


Daniel Phantom

by Kawaii_Chibi_InuDemon



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Cannibalism, Death, Murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:15:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 32,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27577058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kawaii_Chibi_InuDemon/pseuds/Kawaii_Chibi_InuDemon
Summary: Okay, I know that for some of you who have seen the movie this is going to be pretty much word for word and scene for scene, for the most part. I will change some items and names, of course, to make it Danny Phantom related. :) I love Danny Phantom and Dan Phantom is one of my ABSOLUTE fave villains! I thought to myself when I watched Sweeny Todd that they were just toooooo similar and Dan would just fit right in there. Both men went evil because of their loved one, their other half, and sought revenge on those that they felt had done that love in. Hope you enjoy. :)
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

Amiss the fog a ship floated into shore, the mast a white flag upon the darkness. Around him the lights a dim sight as another young male sings about his travels around the wide world.

I have sailed the world  
beheld its wonders  
from the Dardanelles,  
to the mountains of Peru,  
But there's no place like London!  
I feel home again...  
I could hear the city bells ring...  
Whatever would I do?  
No there's...

An older male, worn out looking with dark circles under his eyes and a dark appearance about him.

"No, there is no place like London!" he states in an almost sing songy voice, save for the underlying anger in his tone. The younger male looks to him in question, his voice saying as much as he whispered the older male's name. "You are still young," is his response. "You will learn." The older male walks past him, toward the edge of the boat. His hair is jet black, with just a streak of white in it, though he still appears to be quite young in his appearance you can tell that he has seen it all. He continues to sing of the place he knew...a place that had burned him and taken all that he loved away from him for no reason other than the man that had imprisoned him. The evil judge.

The ship docks and Daniel disappears among the darkness as several sailors embark on their journey to find a woman to pleasure them or to sleep with as they had spent several months without the touch of a woman's comfort. The young male from before follows Daniel out.

"Mr Phantom?" he questions. "Is everything okay?" Dan shakes his head.

"I feel shadows from this place...from these streets."

"Shadows?"

"Ghosts." He takes a few steps forward. "There was a barber and his wife...and she was beautiful! A foolish barber and his wife...she was his reason and his life...She was beautiful and virtuous!" In his mind he was back to the days of his happiness. The time in which he and the love of his life were walking thru the flowers of the local market, him pushing a baby carriage around with a small dark haired child smiling up at him. "And he was...naive. " The pair of young parents looked down upon their young child, both so in love and oblivious to the world around them. The small child looked happily at her father as her mother held her close. The world seemed perfect for the trio..so great as if the sun would shine forever on the beautiful family.

"There was another man who saw that she was beautiful." Another dark haired male skulked in the shadows watching the young couple coo over their child. "A pious vulture of the law. Who, the the gesture of his claw removed the barber from his plate. Then there was nothing but to wait." A rough looking male appeared at the side of the dark haired male, his hair lighter than his master's, a smirk appearing on his face as the other male whispered something to him. Disappearing into the darkness the other male focused on the couple as a pair of officers came out of nowhere and rushed to the family who moments before had been enjoying their life. They took down the barber with a thump of their club, the young wife holding her child closer as her husband was taken away. "And she would fall. So soft, so young. So lost and, oh, so beautiful!"

Dan found himself back in the same shadows of the dock, his lips twisting in effort not to cry out his anger.

"And the lady, sir, did she succumb?" the younger male queered. He waited as Dan, without turning toward him, responded.

"Oh, that was many years ago. I doubt if anyone would know." He turned now, his face half lit by the lanterns that glowed around them. Still he only glanced at the other male, keeping his head down for the most part. He didn't seem to want to make eye contact, but even though he didn't do that he still thanked the young man.

"I'd like to thank you, Tucker. If you hadn't spotted me, I'd be lost on the ocean still."

"Will I see you again?" Tucker asked, not moving toward Daniel at first, until Dan responded to his question. "You might find me if you like. Around Fleet Street, I wouldn't wonder." Dan looked out onto the skies above London. The grey clouds hovered over the city, as if knowing what had come upon it's shores. Tucker stuck out his hand to the man whom he had saved.

"Until then, my friend," he said, but Dan ignored him, taking small steps out into the streets of his former home. His shoes could be heard on the cobblestone streets as he headed for a place unknown to his savior. As he walked quickly now down the darkened streets he muttered something dark under his breath.

"There's a hole in the world like a great black pit. And it's filled with people who are filled with shit. And the vermin of the world inhabit it." Dan walks quickly thru streets filled with drunks and homeless bums, occasionally passing a house of ill repute before coming to stop at a corner where a dark building stood on the corner, people walking past if as if it weren't there. It was still dark about Dan, the skies a murky grey with smoke towers that filled the air with smog. Walking across the street he entered the shop, a young woman behind the counter working to cut something on the board in front of her not even lifting her head. Her dark hair was a mess around her shoulders, her skin a pale tan color and her clothing worn and dirty, barely covering her heaving chest as she worked.

Dan took a few steps back, intending to leave the worn out and dirty shop when she looked up, a shocked look in her teal eyes.

"A customer!" she cried out before stabbing the knife into the cutting board. Wait! What's your rush? You gave me such a fright I thought you was a ghost!" She moved quickly, her feet making no sound as she put her hands on his shoulders, the dark haired male looking at her hands as if they had burned him. He didn't step away though, looking at her again as she continued to talk. "Half a minute, can't you sit?" She moved him over to a booth near the door, her hands attempting to force him to sit and when he didn't she stated again with a shove."Sit you down. Sit!" Rushing off again to her post in front of the cutting board she continued to speak.

"All I meant is that I haven't seen a customer for weeks!" Pulling out the knife she looked to him as she placed the knife on the table. "Did you come here for a pie, sir? Do forgive me if me head's a little vague," she stated with a wipe of her forehead before noticing a roach on the board next to some pasty crust. "What was that?" Picking it up she threw it on the ground where other bugs were crawling in front of what appeared to be a wood burning stove with a fire glowing in it's open mouth. "But you'd think we had the plague! From the way that people keep avoiding-" she stopped as she stomped on the critters as they tried to flee before noticing another on the table. "No, you don't," she told the bug before squashing it.

"Heaven knows I try, sir!" Heading over to a plate containing something akin to food she placed one on another plate while still continuing her piece. "But there's no one comes in even to inhale. " Blowing on the pie she brings it over to him, the look on his face blank and yet the look in his eyes is uneasy as he eyes the counter behind her that has seemed to conjure up more of the roaches she had been killing as she talked. "Right you are, sir would you like a drop of ale?" Walking away again she leaves the pie before him. "Mind you, I can hardly blame them. These are probably the worst pies in London. I know why nobody cares to take them." Dan leans over the offending pastry, his semi gloved hand moving the place closer so he can see what has been placed before him. It looks like week old dog shit. He moves it around on his plate as she still continues to talk.

"I should know, I make them. But good? No! The worst pies in London," she moves around the small kitchen area making another one of the offending food items, if one could call them that with they way she talked. Even that's polite... The worst pies in London. If you doubt it, take a bite!" She rolls another pastry into form, taking a spoon laden with mucky looking brown goop out of a bowl before plopping the goop into the round pie she had just finished. The resounding plop sound it made made Dan wince. Bringing his pie to his face he smelled it, finding it didn't smell bad he opened his mouth to take a bit as she said, "If you doubt it, take a bite." He did just that as she looked up. "Is that just disgusting? You have to concede it. It's nothing but crusting." She poured whatever had been in a glass next to her into the same bowl in which she had just slopped the filling for the pie before taking another bottle out to fill the glass. Dan spit his bite onto the floor of the shop, not hiding his distaste for what he had put in his mouth. She brought him the drink with the words, "Here, drink this, you'll need it."


	2. Chapter 2

"The worst pies in London and no wonder with the price of meat what it is." Dan swigged down his drink, still grimacing at the taste that lingered on his taste buds that not even alcohol could wipe away. "When you get it, never thought I'd live to see the day men'd think it was a treat finding poor animals what are dying in the street." As she continued to talk to him, she also continued to make her disgusting pies, though Dan wasn't sure why since they were so vile. She looked up now, a rather dark look in her eyes as she continued her speech. "Mrs. Mooney has a pie shop. Does her business, but I noticed something all her neighbors' cats have disappeared." His brow raised at that statement. "Have to hand it to her what I calls enterprise, popping pussies into pies!" She slammed her rolling pin down several times as she glared down at her own pies. "Wouldn't do in my shop. Just the thought of it's enough to make you sick! And I'm telling you them pussycats is quick." The finger he had been raising to silence her dropped down. He didn't know what to say to this woman! She didn't shut up, but even while he was sitting there drinking nasty, cheap alcohol and listening to her god awful stories he couldn't bring himself to leave, to walk away from her. "No denying times is hard, sir! Even harder than the worst pies in London, only lard and nothing more! Is that just revolting?!" As he looked down a roach crawled out of the pie he had just taken a bite from moments before.

"All greasy and gritty, it looks like it's molting and tastes like...well, pity..." She slathered an unknown liquid on the crust she had just laid across the bottom half of another pie. "A woman alone! With limited wind and the worst pies in London." She threw her pies into the wooden stove as he attempted another drink of his pint, the taste making him gasp at how horrible it all was. It was a wonder this woman had a roof over her head, much less a place to, well, cook. "Sir, times is hard, times is hard." Splat! Again she stamped out another bug crawling across the flour on her counter. She leaned over the counter, her bosom almost falling out. Unlike the other people walking the streets behind him her skin had a little more color, her dark hair falling out over her shoulders. He looked down at his drink, not sure if he should take another drink or not when she said, "Trust me, dearie, it's gonna take a lot more than ale to wash that taste out." Straightening up she threw down her rolling pin. "Come with me. We'll get you a nice tumbler of gin, eh?" She directed him to another portion of the building, past what appeared to be a dank and dreary stairwell to a lonesome door. Leaving the darkness of the warm and yet chilly shop behind him he paused to gaze at that door.

"Isn't this homey, now?" she said as he continued toward her voice in the other room, one that was brighter with a lit fireplace. Around that fireplace were pictures and other trinkets like porcelain dolls. There was a nice piano in the corner furthest from where her voice came from. "The cheery wallpaper was a real bargain, too. It was only partly singed when the chapel burned down." She finished pouring a glass for him as he turned the corner. "There you go," she stated handing him the drink. "You sit down, warm your bones."

"You've a room over the shop here? Times is so hard, why don't you rent it out?" he inquired as he sat down, the woman just staring at her drink. She looked up in shock at his mention of the closed off area of the building, her eyes wide. 

"What, up there?" She looked in the direction of the room he was hinting at. "No, I won't go near it. People think it's haunted." She looked at him, his own eyes meeting hers at her words. 

"Haunted?" he asked critically. There was no such things as ghosts, at least not that he believed. 

"Yeah," she whispered moving toward him. "And who's to say they're wrong?" He looked away from her, his eyes glittering with the flames of the fireplace. "You see, years ago, something happened up there... Something not very nice." She moved to sit across from him, an inquisitive look on her face as she eyed him. "There was a barber and his wife, and he was beautiful. A proper artist with a knife, but they transported him for life... and he was beautiful... His eyes looked lost in another world, the color darkening from blue to green as he stared off into the flames of his past. "Fenton, his name was. Daniel Fenton." Without looking at her, without even blinking he inquired about this man, and his crime. 

"What was his crime?" 

"Foolishness." She stated almost chuckling as a small smile twisted on her lips, but looking toward the fire her smile dropped. "He had this wife, you see, pretty little thing, silly little nit had her chance for the moon on a string." In his eyes you could see what she was describing, this young woman, so pale in appearance, her raven hair pulled back, but still managing to touch her slender shoulders. In her arms was a dark haired child, it's cries echoing around the small space. "Poor thing. Poor thing." The woman sat in a rocking chair, her eyes red with tears as she cried with her small child. "There was this judge, you see. Wanted her like mad! Every day he sent her a flower, but did she come down from her tower?" The woman glanced out the window and sitting up rushed out of the room, a pile of wilted roses dark with age sitting on the window. "Sat up there and sobbed by the hour...Poor fool. But there was worse yet to come, poor thing."

Dan stares straight ahead, but you could see the hate feeling his eyes, the almost glowing green becoming brighter by the minute.  
"Well, Skulker calls on her all polite. Poor thing. Poor thing. The Judge, he tells her is all contrite, he blames himself for her dreadful plight. She must come straight to his house tonight! Poor thing, poor thing!"

Swirling in his mind is an image of this woman, her eyes filled with confusion as she is rushed down the street, the lamps giving her an unearthly glow in her dark gowns.  
"Of course, when she goes there, Poor thing, poor thing. They're having this ball all in masks. There's no one she knows there, poor dear, poor thing. She wanders tormented and drinks, poor thing."

Amidst the crowd she has been thrown into the dark haired woman stumbles, looking for the familiar face of the judge or perhaps a way out, but in the midst of trying to find the man requesting what she was told she grabs a passing drink and swallows, hoping the fear that is glittering in her lavender eyes will pass and she can find the judge and then head home. "The Judge has repented, she thinks, poor thing. "Oh, where is Judge Masters?" She asks. He was there all right. Only not so contrite! She wasn't no match for such craft you see and everyone thought it so droll. They figured she had to be daft, you see, so all of them stood there and laughed you see... Poor soul...poor thing...

The raven haired woman lay shaking on the fainting couch, her eyes drooping as she fought the feeling of being crowded by all the guests around her while the drink made her even more drowsy. It was at that moment the judge appeared, his dark hair almost like that of horns adorning his head pulled his devil's mask off. Her eyes looked at him, lost, scared, and betrayed. He almost pitied her, his look of repentant disappearing as he jumped on her, the crowd around him drawing even closer around him as her screams rippled through the room.


	3. Chapter 3

"No!" Dan cried as he stood up, anger etched on his face. "Would no one have mercy on her?" he inquired, his look softening as he thought of his dear wife, his dark eyes staring into the teal eyes of the woman before him. She almost smiled as she realized her inkling was correct. 

"So, it is you," she whispered, her breath seeming to pause as the name of the male before her exited her lips, "Daniel Fenton?" His eyes hardened, almost seeming to flash green, but she was sure that wasn't the case as his eyes were as blue as the ocean just miles from them. He ignored her question. 

"Where is Samantha? Where is my wife?" he asked, voice breaking slightly, almost afraid of the answer that would be given to him. 

"She poisoned herself." The woman before him seemed to answer him without passion, coldly, as if the life of his love meant nothing. Why should it to this ratty looking woman? "Arsenic, from the apothecary around the corner. Tried to stop her, but she wouldn't listen to me." She looked away from him, her eyes flitting around the room in an attempt to hide from his burning gaze. And if that wasn't bad enough the next words out of her mouth were just twisting the knife. "And he's got your daughter." 

"He?" he growled. "Judge Masters?" She nodded. 

"Adopted her. Like his own." 

"Fifteen years," he hissed as he tore his coat from his body. "I've sweated in a living hell on a false charge! Fifteen years dreaming I might come home to MY wife and child!" He took a step toward the window, people still hustling around outside, their voices deaf as he relived his horror, his pains. 

"Well, I can say the years have been particularly kind to you, Mr. Fenton," she whispered standing up to stand close to him, but when he turned to her she could see the hate for his lost life, for the man who had had him tossed away like trash so he could claim a prize that the other male had yearned for since the moment Daniel had held her hand. "No. Not Fenton." The woman stared at him in question, her eyes wide, her breathing shallow. "That man is dead. It's Dan now. Dan Phantom... and I will have my revenge," he rasped, his brows coming together at that very scary thought. It was in that moment that she realized his eyes were green, glowing brightly in her dimly lit room. How was that so? How did his eyes change like that?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Moments later found the pair exiting the side of her building, the small woman leading him upstairs and away from the streets. Her steps were heavy on the wooden staircase that held close to the building while his were light, his eyes looking around him at the once familiar streets that had abandoned him so quickly to Hell. At the top was a single door, the windows dark with dust and soot from the air around them. She seemed to take her time unlocking the door, as if she really believed a ghost would pop out from the darkened room. Once in she turned to see that he was looking at the room as if he had seen a ghost, but he was seeing memories in the dank room, the wallpaper dirty and torn from the years it had stood vacant. "Come in," she beckoned him, sauntering across the room. "Nothing to be afraid of, love." He looked lost, his eyes once again blue and wide. He took big steps into the room before walking slowly over to where a crib sat covered in a dirty blanket. He reached out, his large fingers sliding under the blanket. Lifting it he found a dirty and broken porcelain doll looking up at him. He had given that doll to his daughter the day he had been arrested, when he had been walking with his family, all of them so young and naïve. As he spent more time in his lost past the woman walked over to another part of the room and moving dust off a plank began tapping. The sound of the plank hitting the ground drew him from his memories. Dropping the blanket he looked to her on the ground. In her hands was a dark item, drawing him toward it in curiosity. She dusted it off before revealing that it too was a blanket. Unfolding the blanket respectfully revealed a small, flat, black box. "When they came for the girl, I hid them." She handed it over to him, the dim sunlight outside the window behind her revealing carvings in the black wood. "Could've sold them, but I didn't." He held the box, looking amazed at what he held in his large hands. "Those handles is chased silver, ain't they?" she inquired as he opened the box to reveal several barber knives. 

"Silver. Yes." He touched the blade reverently. He treated them like he would when antiquating oneself with an old friend. He pulled one out, laying the others on the floor next to him as she watched closely, watching him with what could only be adoration. "These are my friends," he sang softly as he turned it in his hand, the blade of the knife gleaming in the sunlight. "See how they glisten? See this one shine?" He flicked it open, his eyes reflecting back at him and then his face as he leaned back a little. "How he smiles in the light. My friend! My faithful friend!" He stood up now, almost as if he were alone, the woman forgotten as she squatted there watching him talk to the lone blade. "Speak to me, friend. Whisper, I'll listen." She stood now, almost unsure of the male before her. "I know, I know. You've been locked out of sight all these years. Like me, my friend." She approached him now, still careful not to make a sound. He was still looking at the blade, moving around with it, but staying in that one spot, as if dancing with it. "Well, I've come home to find you waiting. Home. And we're together. And we'll do wonders. Won't we?" The woman walked around his back to the other side, away from the knife. "You there, my friend." He pulled out another knife and she moved closer, whispering in his ear.

"I'm your friend, too, Mr. Phantom."  
"Come, let me hold you," they sang in unison, the woman placing her hand on his shoulder, but he didn't seem to notice as he sang to his blades. "lf you only knew, Mr. Phantom. Oh, Mr. Phantom."  
"You're warm in my hand..." "You grow warm in my hand!" "My friend." "You've come home..." "My clever friend!" "Always had a fondness for you, I did.." "Rest now, my friends." Dan moved away from her, still unaware that she was even in the room, his plans for revenge being made with his friends that glittered as he moved. "Never you fear, Mr. Phantom."  
"Soon I'll unfold you." "You can move in here, Mr. Phantom."  
"Soon you'll know." "Splendors you never." "Splendors you never.." "Have dreamed all your days." "Have dreamed all your days.." "Will be yours.." She moved with him, standing over him like some guardian angel put together with scraps. "My lucky friends!"

"I'm your friend and now you're mine!" "Till now your shine..." "Don't they shine beautiful?" "...was merely silver." "Silver's good enough for me." "Friends, you shall drip rubies." The woman delved closer to him, almost disappearing into his hair as she seemed draw to him, wanting to kiss his neck before moving away, but still handing over his shoulder. "Mr. P." "You'll soon drip precious rubies!" It was at that moment a sneer came over his lips as he spotted her in the reflection with him. He turned to her, his lips just inches from hers. "Leave me." A pout appeared on her lips, but she left him without a word, shutting the door behind her as he stood pointing the blade out toward the city, the sunlight growing brighter. "At last, my arm is complete again." Below him is the sign for the shop he has now made his home. Miss Canals, it reads.


	4. Chapter 4

In another part of the London town, grander scale then where Daniel was at that point a young, blond male walked, a rather large bag over his shoulder. In his hands was a book. He stood out in his not so nice clothing. Walking past finely dressed people he looked up and around him. Finding a bench he sat down, making himself comfortable he put his bag down at his side. Across from him was a large home, more like a mansion. In the window was a beautiful woman, her raven hair falling around her face. She stared intently at her work before her, the needle working at the stitching in her nimble fingers. She wore a lavender dress that fell over the window seat she sat at, the sun that glimmered behind clouds making her pale skin glow. Looking up she stared at the chirping bird hopping around its cage just feet from her. She didn't smile, her lips in an almost permanent glower as she watched the caged bird twitter. Looking back down at stitching with a sign she began to sing.

"Green finch and linnet bird. Nightingale, blackbird. How is it you sing?" Her melodious voice seemed to reach past her walls to the blond male just feet under her window. He looked around for a moment trying to figure out where the sweet voice was coming from only to find that it was above him. "How can you jubilate sitting in cages, never taking wing?" His eyes grew wide at the sight of the beauty before him. "Outside the sky waits, beckoning, beckoning." She looked outside, never noticing him as she continued her song. "Just beyond the bars. How can you remain staring at the rain maddened by the stars? How is it you sing anything? How is it you sing?" She looked back at the bird, her eyes gleaming with the sadness of being trapped. She looked back out as the young male stood, his book forgotten in his hands. She noticed him, her voice falling silent for a moment as she smiled at him. "My cage has many rooms, damask and dark. Nothing there sings, not even my lark."

It was as if the world had disappeared, save for the two of them. He felt as if she were singing for him as people walked around him, and a lone woman begged for money. "Larks never will, you know, when they're captive." She looked away now, her smile falling from her lips. Unbeknownst to her a picture was moved by male fingers. A small hole revealed as the person on the other side watched her. "Teach me to be more adaptive. Green finch and linnet bird, nightingale, blackbird teach me how to sing." The blond male smiled as she turned toward the window, out toward the skies that clouded up again. "If I cannot fly, let me sing." On that final note she looked down at him, a smile gracing her lips again. It seemed that just as she smiled it was gone, worry on her graceful features as she rushed from the window leaving the young male worried. "Alms!" came a soft voice, husky as it cried out again. "Alms for a miserable woman on a miserable chilly morning!" Coming up from his right was a ragged creature, her clothing worn out with holes. Her head was covered with an ugly hat that hid her face from all those around her. Holding out her hand toward him, the blond male gave her some money, her gloved hand taking it quickly. "Thank you, sir!" Before she could wander off he called to her, holding her in her place.

"Ma'am? Could you tell me whose house this is?" 

"That's the great Judge Masters' house, that is." She becomes rather twitchy at that point. She seems to be uncomfortable answering the question, but still waits as he asks another. 

"And the young lady who resides there?" 

"Oh, that's Lily, his pretty little ward. Keeps her snug, he does. All locked up," she replies bitterly. "So don't you go trespassing there, or it's a good whipping for you, or any other young man with mischief on his mind." She rushes off from him crying out, "Alms! Alms for a desperate woman!" He looks back at the house before walking away from it, his eyes never leaving the window she had just been in. 

"I feel you, Lily. I feel you," he whispers still moving past other people on the street. "I was half convinced I'd waken, satisfied enough to dream you." He walked to the bench, his bag still on the ground waiting for him. He never stopped looking at that window, sure she would come back, that he could see her beautiful face again. "Happily I was mistaken, Lily." He picked up his bag and turned back toward the house, making his way back toward it. "I'll steal you, Lily! I'll steal you." A door to the right of the window opens and a dark haired male appears. He beckons the blond male. He seems hesitant to leave the spot in the middle of the street. 

"Come in, lad. Come in." The dark haired male waves him inside and with a gulp he enters the extravagant house. As soon as he is in the older male closes the door before following his guest into the parlor. "You were looking for Hyde Park, you say?" The older male leads him into the large, elegant room. 

"Yes. It's very large on the map, but I keep getting lost." He enters the room, his eyes darting around at all the books and art decorating the large room. 

"Sit down, lad, sit down." At this point a large male steps into the door, his dark hair falling over his face. 

"It's embarrassing for a sailor to lose his bearings, but there you are." He sits down as the older male looks to the one in the doorway. 

"A sailor?" 

"Yes, sir. The Bountiful, out of Plymouth," he responds as he takes the glass of brandy supplied to him, nervous. 

"A sailor must know the ways of the world, yes? Must be practiced in the ways of the world. Would you say you were practiced, boy?" he asks as he moves toward his books. 

"Sir?"

"Oh, yes," the older male says as the other taller male walks further into the room. "Such practices," he continues, almost lustfully. "The geishas of Japan. The concubines of Siam. The catamites of Greece. The harlots of India," he states, caressing each book in turn, his fingertips grazing them as if he were with the women he talked about. He had moved closer to the blond male with each word. The blond male was looking even more puzzled and worried as the older dark haired male looked at him.

"I have them all here. Drawings of them." He looked to him now, his fingers still touching the books on the shelf. "Everything you've ever dreamed of doing with a woman. Would you like to see?" He pulled out a book, the young male before him looking seriously spooked, but managing to sound unnerved as he spoke. 

"I think there's been some mistake." 

"I think not," he said letting the book fall back into place with a thud. "You gandered at my ward, Lily. You gandered at her." His eyes grew wide as the older male moved toward him, his face not even betraying how he felt about the actions of the blond before him. "Yes, sir, you gandered." His tone was deadly at that point, his eyes growing cold.

"I meant no harm," he stated getting up. 

"Your meaning is immaterial." He moved so quickly though that the young male fell back into the seat as the older male bore down on him, his eyes like that of a shark smelling blood in the water. His face was mere inches from the blond's as he stated coldly, "Mark me. If I see your face again on this street, you'll rue the day you were born." Nodding toward his companion in the doorway he stepped back. Suddenly the blond male was trust out the door, the taller male pointing down the street as the younger male tried to get up. 

"Hyde Park is that way, young sir! A left and a right and straight on, you see?" As soon as he was on his feet the tall male pulled out a large blunt object, striking him on the back of the head.

As the blond fell to the ground again he was struck several more times before the other man stated coolly, "Move on, now! You heard what Judge Masters said, little man!" The young male turned over on his back, blood leaking from his mouth and down his cheek. "Next time, it'll be your pretty little brains all over the pavement." With that he walked back into the darkness before his bag was thrown on his face. Getting up he coughed up more blood before heading for the streets again. His beating didn't take away his yearning for the raven haired beauty as he began to sing again. 

"I'll steal you, Lily. I'll steal you! Do they think that walls can hide you?" He turned around to look at a single window, envisioning her in its bleak depths. "Even now, I'm at your window. I am in the dark beside you, buried sweetly in your raven locks. I feel you, Lily. And one day I'll steal you!" He looked toward her window this time. "Till I'm with you then, I'm with you there! Sweetly buried in your raven locks!" He walked away now, his back toward the window where his beautiful captive lived.


	5. Chapter 5

Paulina and Daniel stood on the crowded streets. "He's here every Thursday." Daniel listened as they walked, looking around at the place he had once called home. "American. All the rage he is," she continued. "Best barber in London, they say." They continued through the market, several people around them hollering about their goods while others shopped, picking at fruits and fishes. They walked only a few feet from the crowded market til they came upon a sign, a booth that sat at the corner. The sign proclaimed that his name was Walker and that he had an elixir of some sort. A miracle elixir. Daniel just scoffed. Miracle? Who believed in those? They stopped, Daniel continuing to gaze around him, searching the crowds now for a familiar face, before he stopped looking, his eyes hardening. There, beyond the carts came a familiar face. The face of the minion to Judge Masters. His movements were slow as he moved his coat, reaching for his blade.

"Hang on," Paulina stated, her words halting him in his tracks. She pulled him back with a gentle tug as he covered the blade back up and put his hands together before him. They both watched as the male with light hair make his way past carts laden with goods, his cane unneeded as he slightly twirled it before him. He still hadn't seen Daniel or Paulina. Just then the curtain on the small makeshift booth opened. A rather strange pale looking lad with a bright orange tangle of hair stepped out without a word. He wore beggars clothing, though it was not torn or dirty. On his head was a cap that covered most of his head. He began to beat on a small drum. It silenced those around him, some stopping to stare while others ignored him. He began to beat the drum faster as more people gathered around him. As suddenly as he started the young lad stopped, setting the drum off to the side as he began to talk.

"Ladies and gentlemen! May I have your attention, please? Do you wake every morning in shame and despair to discover your pillow is covered with hair? What ought not to be there?" he hollered. This seemed to get more people's attention as well as Masters' minion, his brow raising in question.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen from now on you can waken at ease! You need never again have a worry or care I will show you a miracle marvelous rare!" He bent down now, his audience watching his every move. "Gentlemen, you are about to see something what rose from the dead! On the top of my head!" With a flamboyant twist of his hands his cap flew off to reveal that his orange hair was shoulder length, shimmering in the pale light from the clouds above them.

"'Twas Walker's Miracle Elixir, that's what did the trick, sir! True, sir, true. Was it quick, sir? Did it in a tick, sir! Just like an elixir ought to do!" He threw bottles out to the crowd, people looking at the containers in question with skeptical looks. He opened another one as he walked over to a bald male. "How about a bottle, mister? Only costs a penny, guaranteed." He poured a little on the male's head, the male reaching up to wipe it in, though he looked skeptical as well. Taking a whiff of his hand he cringed but continued to rub it in. "Does Walker's stimulate the growth, sir? You can have my oath, sir 'Tis unique. Rub a minute. Stimulating, isn't it? Soon you'll have to thin it once a week!"

Daniel leaned over to Paulina as if to whisper, but instead of being quiet he spoke rather loud, his voice carrying. "Pardon me, ma'am what's that awful stench?"

"Are we standing in an open trench?" she questioned.

"Must be standing near an open trench! Pardon me, sir what's that awful stench?" they both asked the male next to them as the boy on stage continued talking, his eyes watching them with uncertainty.

"Buy Walker's Miracle Elixir! Anything what's slick, sir soon sprouts curls! Try Walker's, when they see how thick, sir you can have your pick, sir of the girls! Want to buy a bottle, missus?" The boy asked a lady up front as Daniel and Paulina continued to serve a nay sayers of the product now in their hand.

"What is this?"

"What is this?"

"Smells like piss!"

"Smells like... - Looks like piss!" Paulina who had taken a quick smell cringed now as she turned to people around her. "Wouldn't touch it if I was you, dear!"

"This is piss, piss with ink!"

"Let Walker's activate your roots, sir!" It seemed the young boy was getting worried even as he continued his speech.

"Keep it off your boots, sir. Eats right through!" Daniel proclaimed.

"Yes, get Walker's, use a bottle of it Ladies seem to love it..."

"Flies do, too," Paulina cut in. It was at that point a sound came from the darkness of the curtains, the young boy looking frightened as he jumped back. From behind the curtain came a man in a white trench-coat, his black wide brimmed hat like that of what a cowboy would wear. He was at least six foot, same as Daniel who eyed him from the crowd. His bright green eyes glittered angrily as he looked out before him.

"I am Walker! The king of the barbers, the barber of kings, good day! And I wish to know who has the nerve to say my elixir is piss! Who says this?"

"I do," Daniel said, unhesitatingly and unabashedly. "I am Daniel Phantom of Fleet Street. I have opened a bottle of Walker's Elixir," he said looking up unflinchingly at the male glaring daggers at him. "And I say to you that it is nothing but an arrant fraud, concocted from piss and ink." The male before him struggled to hold his tongue as Daniel could tell by the way his lips moved into a thin line. "Furthermore, Walker, I have serviced no kings, yet I wager that I can shave a cheek with 10 times more dexterity, than any street mountebank." He looked at the crowd then back to Walker as the other blonde haired male struggled to put a frozen smile on his face. "Do you see these razors?" Daniel asked as he pulled out his blades still sheathed in their handles. "I lay them against 5 pound. You are no match, sir. Either accept my challenge, or reveal yourself as a sham." Walker poked at the blade handle, thinking as the crowd began to murmur around him.

"You hear this foolish man? Now, please, you will see how he will regret his folly." He whisked off his hat and jacket to reveal his dark shirt and white tie as well his blonde locks. "Nathan!"

"Who's for a free shave?" Daniel asked the crowd. As two people volunteered and were sat into two different chairs Daniel turned back to the crowd, his eyes falling upon his prey in the crowd as his blue eyes darkened to green for a second. "Will Mr. Skulker be the judge?" Shocked to be called on, the other male didn't show as he walked over, the crowd parting for him.

"Glad, as always, to oblige my friends and neighbors," he stated in his gravelly voice. The two competitors got ready, Daniel placing a bright green cloth over his person while Walker produced a white one. "Ready?" he asked both men.

"Ready! And you, make sure you don't fail to follow the ruuuules," he hissed.

"Ready," was Daniel's response.

"The fastest, smoothest shave is the winner!" As they started, Daniel slowly sharpening his blade as Walker had Nathan hold his while he rushed through the sharpening, each time the blade striking the young boy's hand, blood dripping off his hand unnoticed by the crowd. Putting it down he grabbed a small bowl like item as he began to whisk his brush in it.

"Now, gentleman, gentleman. We mix the lather, but first you gather around, gentleman, gentleman. You looking at a man who has had the glory to shave the Pope! Mr. Phantom, whoever I beg you pardon since you'll probably say it was only a cardinal Nope! It was the Pope!" He began to lather the man's face up as Nathan produced a signed artwork of said pope. "To shave the face! To cut the hair requires the grace, requires the flair for it!" Daniel is just looking at his blade, nonplussed by the other male as he finishes half of his customer's face. "You slip, you nick the skin. You clip the chin, you rip the lip a bit beyond repair!"

Daniel now puts away his blade as he grabs the bowl to whisk up his shaving cream. He is slow in his movements as he glances a Skulker. "To shave the face or even a part requires the heart. Not just the flash, it takes panache. It takes the passion for the art to shave the face, to trim the beard. This is from early infancy. The talent give to me by God! It takes skill It takes the brain, It takes the will to take the pains. It takes the pace, it takes grace..." He is so busy talking and not shaving that in a matter of seconds Daniel is done, his customer shaved smooth and fast.

"The winner is Daniel!" Skulker declares. Everyone applauds as both shaved and half shaved men leave the stage. Paulina smiles as Walker bows low, scowling as he speaks.

"Sir, I bow to a skill far greater than my own."

"The 5 pounds," is all Daniel says.

"May the good Lord smile on you," Walker says as he hands him the cash. "Until we meet again." He turns toward Nathan. "Come, boy. Come!" He smacks the poor boy in the face knocking him off his feet, but still the tall blonde male kicks him into the curtains, taking his anger out on his ward. As he walks down to the marketplace from the stage Paulina greets him.

"Suppose it's just me gentle heart, but I do hate to see a boy treated like that," she says as she lays his dark coat over his shoulders. "Congratulations, Mr. Phantom," an unidentified male says as he stops before them. "May I ask you, sir, do you have your own establishment?" Paulina speaks up for him.

"He certainly does. Daniel Phantom's Tonsorial Parlor, above my Meat Pie Emporium in Fleet Street." Daniel has wandered away from them and toward Skulker.

"I thank you, sir. You are a paragon of integrity," he whispers, his voice sugary sweet even as he scowls.

"Well, I try to do my best for my friends and neighbors. Your establishment is in Fleet Street, you say?" Skulker inquires with a gleam in his beady eyes.

"Yes, sir," Daniel states, barely holding onto his nice mannerisms.

"Then, Mr. Phantom, you shall surely see me there before the week is out." With a grin the nasty man turns to leave, but Daniel has one more thing to say.

"You will be welcome, Skulker. And I can guarantee to give you, without a penny's charge, the closest shave you will ever know." With his own malicious glint Daniel barely manages to not smile at his good fortune. Skulker walks off and Paulina pulls Daniel back the way to her shop.


	6. Chapter 6

Amethyst eyes with a touch of blue watch the space outside her window, her gaze searching for the boy from before, the one that had stood there looking up at her with eyes so full of longing. She had felt his adoration and while she was used to such looks, his held deeper feelings. She glanced around her in the room, unaware that another set of eyes were watching her from a hole in the wall. Those blue eyes flashed at her movements, wondering what she was doing or who she was looking for and finding anger swimming in his blood. He had only taken her in for one thing, the loss of her mother's small body and the things that he had yearned to do with the woman who had birthed her.

The window opened when Lily spotted the blond boy from before and thrusting her hand out the window, she tossed a key with a small scrape of cloth attached to it. The blond picked it up, smiling at her before disappearing again. Shutting the window again, she worried at her pink lips as her guardian watched her from the shadows. He couldn't see what she had done, well, besides her movements, but judging by her sudden tension and the way she was looking out her window he could only guess.

Dan stood in a medium sized room, his blade moving in his hand while he looked out a dirty window. Paulina sat behind him on a worn out chair, her words loud in the small space and while he listened to her prattle on he worked on his plan to get revenge for the wrongs done to him and to his family. "It's not much of a chair, but it'll do." She rubbed the arm rests of the old chair with a far away look. "It was me poor Lance's chair. Sit in it all day long he did, after his leg gave out with the gout."

"Why doesn't Skulker come?" he asked, his movements becoming faster as his frustration grew. He wanted to kill the little bastard, but even then he knew he had to keep him alive, at least until his master came to call. After all, Skulker was only part of the plan that had brought him to a standstill in his wonderful life. The one that had aided the other male in taking him away from his family. ""Before the week is out," that's what he said." Looking to Paulina as she looked back in confusion at his words.

"Well, who says the week's out? It's only Tuesday." Letting out a frustrated growl, Dan threw the leather strap down, the sound echoing in the space while the blade shimmered in his tightened fist. Paulina stood now as the older male stomped over to a broken mirror, his green eyes flashing at his reflection. "Easy now. Hush, love, hush." She stood behind him, her eyes taking in the male that she had lusted after for years. "Don't distress yourself. What's your rush?" As she stood just behind him, the dark haired male turning slightly to keep her in his sights while his eyes looked down at the sharpened blade. Her own teal eyes glanced at the blade. "Keep your thoughts... Nice and lush. Wait Hush, love, hush." Her voice was soft, hoping to calm the angry male before her. "Think it through... Once it bubbles, then what's to do?" He continued to glare at his tool, envisioning all that he would do with the simple little blade. "Watch it close. Let it brew."

A smirk twisted his lips as he turned the small object, the sun from the window glinting off of it and he could see the blood dripping down it in his mind. Turning from her, a scowl on his pale features he walked off. Paulina stood in her spot, watching him. He stood before another window now, his eyes flicking back and forth as he watched for his prey.

"Wait, I've been thinking flowers," the raven haired woman said as she moved back to the chair, a small cloth twisting in her fingers. "Maybe daisies To brighten up the room? Don't you think some flowers?" She looked around the dark room with a cold gaze. "Pretty daisies might relieve the gloom?" She looked to him again, his gaze upon his blade yet again as she continued to sing. "Wait Love, wait."

"And the Judge? When'll we get to him?" She was growing rather upset with his frustrated tone, his one track mind, but she couldn't understand what he was feeling. He had loved his wife, had adored his only child and when they had been taken away he had died inside a bit. He couldn't save them, couldn't protect them and to come back to find that his wife had been assaulted by that very same man that had sent them from their side while his young child had been raised under that very roof. He walked to the door, opening it up to allow the voices from the people milling around below them to fill his head. Paulina let out a frustrated sigh as she followed him.

"Can't you think of nothing else? Always brooding away on your wrongs..." She stood beside him, glancing at the masses before touching him on his shoulders to turn him toward her. "Can't you think of nothing else? Always brooding away on your wrongs and what happened heaven knows how many years ago." She pulled him toward the door, to take him back inside. "Come on. Slow, love, slow." She closed the door behind them, Dan frowning, still lost in his thoughts even as he half listened to her words. "Time's so fast, now goes quickly." She ushered him to the worn out seat, his eyes cold and unseeing as he was forced into the chair before she muttered, "See, now it's past. Soon will come. Soon will last." She crouched down, her teal eyes cold and yet, an emotion lurked in those depths. "Wait. Don't you know silly man? Half the fun is to plan the plan?" A smile twist of her lips at the thought that she would assist him in doing his evil deed. "All good things come to those who can wait." She stood again, looking thoughtful as she listed off more of her ideas for the space they were in. "Gillyflowers, maybe 'stead of daisies... I don't know, though What do you think?"

He was now looking at his blade again, a dark smile on his face as he thought of her words, of the pleasure he would feel once he began his dark trip of murders and how wonderful it would feel to spill the blood of those who had wronged him. At the sound of footsteps on the stairs outside the room, Dan was up, Paulina turning as he slammed his body behind the door and against the wall. The boy that opened the door wasn't who he was waiting for though. His blond hair fell over his forehead as he realized that it wasn't Dan before him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, excuse me." Paulina looked at him with a look of disinterest while Dan appeared from behind the door.

The boy turned to him as Paulina said, "Miss Canal." Paulina scowls at the boy, but turns as Dan stands before the boy, his breathing rough from running to find him. Sitting in the worn chair he tells his tale.

"Mr. Phantom, there's a girl who needs my help. Such a sad girl and lonely, but beautiful, too and..." He can't seem to speak properly, so excited and scared at the same time.

" Slow down, son," Dan stated, coldly waiting as the blond takes a breather before he continues.

"Yes. I'm sorry. This girl has a guardian who keeps her locked away, but then, this morning, she dropped this." He holds up a key. The raven haired woman turns to see what he is holding and finding nothing interesting about it turns back to the mirror on a dresser behind the boy. "Surely a sign that Lily wants me to help her. That's her name, Lily." Dan tries not to show interest at the name of his daughter, his eyes almost lighting up at this twist. "And Masters is her guardian. He's a judge of some sort. Once he goes to court, I'm going to slip into the house, release her and beg her to come away with me tonight." The boy seems to have a plan of his own and while the older male would love to help the boy, he knows that he can't allow the boy before him to become aware of his own connection to the young woman he is speaking of. Dan glances over at Paulina covertly.

"Oh, this is very romantic," the woman states. The boy nods, happy to have another voice what he has been thinking before a frown twists his lips.

"Yes. But I don't know anyone in London, you see. And I need somewhere safe to bring her till I've hired a coach to take us away." Dan can't bring himself to look at the boy, unsure if his emotions, though caged, are visible and unsure if he can do anything in this situation that wouldn't effect his own plans of revenge. "If I could keep her here just for an hour or two, I'd be forever in your debt." The older male turns his gaze to the window for a moment, only for a moment before he looks to Paulina.

"Bring her here, love."

"Thank you, ma'am," he gushes with relief. "Mr. Todd?" he asks, looking toward the lost male. Dan stands there, looking at the floor for a moment before nodding his acquisition of the new addition to his plan. With hurried thanks the young boy is gone. Paulina smiles, though she's not overly happy with the new addition herself she can see that Dan seems worried.

"Seems like the Fates are favoring you at last, Mr. P." Noting that he still doesn't seem happy about the soon to be reacquaintance with the daughter he never got the chance to know she asks, "What is it? You'll have her back before the day is out." Dan's frown deepens as he scowls at the closed door.

"What about him?" he inquires, torn on what to do with the loose end.

"Him? Oh, well. Let him bring her here. And then, since you're so hot for a little," she said, pausing to make the motion of someone getting their throat sliced, "that's the throat to slit, my dear." Dan nods, turning toward the window, Paulina joining him when she sees his eyes narrow. Below them Walker walks, his ward at his side as he looks around. Walker's gaze meets his own blue eyes.

"Hello. What's he doing here?" she inquires, looking to him as he instructs her to keep the child accompanying other male downstairs. She turns and heads for the door, intent on doing just that as Dan watches them from the window.


	7. Chapter 7

Paulina hurries down the stairs, maintaining that she in no big rush, but fast enough to stop the boy at the older male's side from going up where she is sending Walker. The blond male stops, Nathan coming to stand by his side.

"Ma'am, is Mr. Phantom at home?" Walker inquires, his face dead set and his eyes cold.

"Plying his trade upstairs," is her simple response to the male before her, her gaze turning toward the small boy. She still feels slightly bad for the boy after seeing him struck by the male still glaring at the door just above them. "Would you look at it now? You wouldn't mind if I gave it a nice juicy meat pie, would you?" Walker waves his hand in dismissal of his ward as he cares not for the small boy.

"Yes, whatever you want." She walks off, the boy in tow as she follows the instructions to keep the boy away from what Daniel has planned upstairs for his master.

"Come on, lad. Your teeth are strong, I hope," she murmurs as Walker continues past them and up the stairs to his doom, the door to her pie shop open to allow the young woman and the child in. "Close the door," she instructs the red headed child while she continues to the space where several of the nasty pies await. Nathan doesn't move from his spot, his eyes wide as he takes in the dark and musty space. "Get you a nice lovely pie." Pulling out a plate from under the counter, she blows it the dust off of it with a simple exhale of air before setting one of the hard pies on it with a resounding 'clunk'. Noticing that the boy is still at the door she says, "Sit down. Make yourself comfy." The red headed lad takes off toward a table where Paulina can serve him. He takes a seat, pulling his hat off before placing it on the table to his left.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Walker approaches the door, his green eyes seeing Daniel thru the glass that covers the top part of the door. He doesn't even bother to look up as he proceeds to "clean" the chair off as if he had just had a customer in the small space. The fact of the matter is that Walker will be his first customer. "Come in." He looks up now, his cold blue eyes almost dead at the sight of the other male. He makes no move to greet the male before him, still looking almost forlorn or maybe it was indifference.

"Mr. Phantom," he says, pulling his cowboy hat off, his white trench coat shifting with the movement. Moving to the side where a small table is, Walker places his hat down, his eyes looking down at the dirty surface.

"Mr. Walker." The male smirks slightly, turning to look at Daniel as that same smirk disappears.

"Call me Johnny. Johnny Walker is the name when it's not professional." He approaches Daniel slowly, almost seeming rather curious and knowing at the same time as his green eyes rake over the male before him. "I'd like me five pound back, if you don't mind." A dark brow raises on the taller male.

"Why?" he asks, though he doesn't really care, not about the money or the reason for why he must return it. He is curious though, about this male and what he seems to be holding close to his chest. Maybe he knows his secret, not that it will matter when Dan is thru.

"Because you entered into our little wager under false pretenses, my friend." His smirk returns now, a twist of his lips that make the male look sinister, but he is nothing in comparison to the deadly male before him. He has nothing to lose anymore, his wife gone and his daughter unaware of his very existence. "So that you might remember to be a bit more forthright in the future, I'll be taking half your profits from herewith." He removes his gloves now, seeming rather sure of himself that the male before him will do as he commands. "Share and share alike. Mr. Daniel Fenton." Walker looks away for a moment, and in that moment fails to see the flash of green in the other male's eyes before they return to his normal blue tint as he looks over at Dan.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Below the pair of males, Paulina is handing Nathan his food, the boy immediately stuffing his face with the small pie. The raven haired woman sits before him, still looking rather uninterest now, though she does talk to him. "Here we are. Tuck in." A soft smile comes to her lips as she watches him consume half of the pie in seconds. "I like to see a man with a healthy appetite. Reminds me of my dear Lance." She looks over at a single picture of a blond male on the counter against the wall. Nathan follows her gaze. The male in the picture is only shown from the chest up, but you can see that he is rather plump. "Liked to gorge himself to bloatation, he did." She looks back at Nathan, his mouth full of food. "He didn't have your nice head of hair, though." The boy frowns slightly, looking rather comfy in his spot with food in his belly, but he waits till his mouth is semi-empty before he answers.

"To tell the truth, it gets awful hot," he responds, the sound of footsteps overhead causing the boards to creak, while removing what appears to be a wig, his hair still red, but more dull looking with soot and dirt in it.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Walker looks around the room, his eyes lighting up as he speaks to himself. "Yes, this'll do nicely." Dan is looking out the window, but he doesn't appear worried about the male knowing his secret and yet, he knows that if he doesn't take care of that same male that he will be outed and once again back to the prison he had escaped from. He needs to ensure that the blond haired male walking towards him, his footsteps echoing around the silent space, doesn't say a word. "You don't remember me, do you?" he inquires, his voice soft for a moment as he walks over to where Dan has placed his blades. "Why should you? I was just a little nip that you hired for a couple of weeks, sweeping up hair." Dan still doesn't look up, seeming to be in his own world as Walker takes one of the blades in hand, turning it with a smile. "But I remember these." He holds up the single blade and yet Dan doesn't respond, nor does he look at the other male. "And how could I ever forget you, Mr. Fenton." He moves closer to the other male, a small stool close to the pale male. "I used to sit right here. Dream of the day when I could be a proper barber myself."

He takes a seat now, still holding the blade in his fingers, his smile seems to fade every so often, as if some of the memories he speaks of are bitter to recall and yet, the male continues, "You might say that you was inspiration to me." He flicks the blade open and shut now, the sound filling the room as he sits there in silence. Dan turns a bit now, looking lost as he stares at the floor. He walks past the person blackmailing him toward the other window as Walker stands up. "So, is we got a deal? Or should I run down the street to me old pal, Skulker?" He's standing behind Dan now, the other male's eyes flashing green in the window before him as Walker leans close to him. He is unaware of the male that he is provoking, the danger he is in as he asks, "What do you say to that, now, Mr. Dan Phantom?

Dan turns on him, his fists glowing a bright green in the shadowed room before he begins to wail on the the other man. Blood leaks from his cheek, each strike sending more blood to the wood under them as Walker is unable to let out a sound. Dan is ruthless in his strikes, taking the other male to the ground after several blows, but he isn't done. His anger takes over as blood flies up to hit his own pale cheek. More of it puddles around the head of the downed male, his blond hair soaking it in with each strike that Dan takes out on his former helper. He doesn't even stop, his energy lighting up brighter and brighter as he releases that pent up rage at the thought that this male, this stupid fucking man was going to out him to the ones that he was here to do away with. Walker's brains are now joining the blood on the ground, the dull brown of the wood under his feet tainted with the red substance, but Dan doesn't care. He doesn't care that the man has stopped breathing or that he is now beating a lifeless corpse. None of it matters as he straightens up moments later, his eyes returning to their cold blue color as he looks down upon the dead man.


	8. Chapter 8

Hearing the thumping from upstairs, the boy looked up at the same time that Paulina did and with quick thinking on her end she began to bang the bowl closest to her as she moved to clean around it. Nathan turned his gaze toward her. "My, my, my. Always work to be done. Spic and span, that's my motto." She listened with one ear as the sounds above them stopped. She was worried that while Dan had taken care of the other male he had done so too loudly. There was no way that the child before her would sit still with the thought that his master were in danger, but she still decided to try and keep him close to her. Looking up she asked him as she leaned forward on her work station, "So, how'd you end up with that dreadful American?"

"Got me from the workhouse." He picked at his meal now, still seeming to be thinking about what all the racket had been above him. He had been around the male long enough to know what sounds came from someone getting their hair cut or beard shaved and those were not the same sounds that had come from where his master was currently. "Been there since I was born." Paulina looked thoughtful, her head tilting slightly to glance at the ceiling above her. Suddenly the small child sprang up from his seat, his eyes wide with fear.

"Oh, God! He's got an appointment with his tailor!" he cried running for the door that led to the outside. "If he's late, he'll blame me!" As he grabbed the handle to exit, Paulina seemed to come out of her thoughts and realized where he was going and what would be waiting for him at the top of the stairs. She threw down her cloth before turning to see that he had already rushed out the door as it slammed shut behind him.

"Wait!" she shouted to the now empty room.

"Sir!" Nathan yelled, his feet pounding up the stairs and closer to the room where Dan and Walker had been alone for several minutes. Thrusting open the room he cried out, "You got an appointment!" Looking around he found that his master was no longer there, only Dan stands there with a bottle of something in his hand. The dark haired male taking a small swig from his drink. The small red headed child took a step back in surprise, something feeling off to him. Maybe it was because of the male before him or maybe because his master had left him without a word.

"Mr. Walker been called away," Dan said, his voice calm. "Better run after him." Nathan shook his head.

"No, sir. I should stay here, or it'll be a lashing." He took a few steps back now, a trunk behind him revealing a pale hand peeking out from the side of it. Dan turned slightly, his eyes still relaxed as the small boy spoke again. "He's a great one for the lashings." As he sat down Dan realized that the body of the boy's master hadn't been completely hidden and while the boy in front of him yet to see that, he knew it would only be a matter of time. His gaze narrowed slightly on that boy.

"So, Miss Canal gave you a pie, did she?" The boy smiled now, his eyes lighting up at the mention of the woman still downstairs.

"She's a real lady."

"That she is," the raven haired male stated, a smile twitching on his lips even as his gaze flickered to the hand still sticking out. A finger twitched and while Dan had not checked to see if the other male were dead, he had been sure that with the use of his powers that the other man was dead. Now it seemed he had been mistaken. "But if I know a growing boy, there's still room for more pie, eh?" He moved closer to the child, his blue eyes watching that hand for more movement.

"Yes, sir."

Smiling, still rather uneasy at the thought that the other man was still alive and would make a sound to grab his ward's attention he stated, "Then why don't you wait for your master downstairs?" He put his hand on the boy's back and with a gentle shove towards the door, moved the child off of the trunk. "Be another pie in it for you, I'm sure." Stopping at the door, the red headed boy shook his head, fear entering his gaze, his body tensing at the thought that he might get in trouble.

"No, I should stay here," he stated, his eyes still wide with fear. Dan worried that he wouldn't be able to get the boy away, his lip twitching with the effort it took to hold back the scowl that wanted to appear. While he might kill the man aiding in getting his daughter, this boy was younger and not someone he really wanted to kill. He was a murderer and not because of a passion to kill, but for revenge.

"Tell you what, why don't you tell Miss Canal that I said to give you a nice big tot of gin." That seemed to change the small boy's mind as his eyes lit up with joy at the thought of a stiff drink as a smile broke out. With a quick thanks to the older male he rushed off out the door. With a push, the door slammed behind the child and Dan turned to look at the trunk, his eyes cold. He approached it, his steps heavy as he took in the still visible hand of the other barber. Placing his bottle down near him on the dresser, he pulled out the blade from before. He didn't need it to kill the other male, but he wanted to use it... the tool of his former trade.

Opening up the trunk Walker groaned, his other hand joining the first one as he slowly sat up. He seemed out of it, but with half of his head missing it wasn't such a wonder. Dan watched him with cold blue eyes as he leaned over the half dead male. He took his time, allowing the blond to lean over as he placed his hand before him the bloodied male. Some blood dripped out from the wound on his head as Dan placed his cool touch to the still warm skin of his victim. A smirk twisted his lips cruelly as he used his other hand, the one wielding the blade, to the pale throat of Walker. He said nothing as he moved it across, blood spurting out like a hydrant without a seal. It coated his sleeve, but Dan paid it little heed as he continued his movement slowly. He seemed to enjoy the thrashing as the other male was unable to fight against his death. The blood dripped to the floor where it joined the faint splatter from earlier.

How had the boy not noticed such a thing? He didn't care, but he would have to clean this up before anyone else was allowed in the space. He would be having more customers ready to join the male in the trunk. Walker stopped moving, his body becoming lax even as more blood dripped from his newest wound. Tossing the man back into his coffin Dan wiped the blade off on his sleeve with a slight grimace before closing the lid with a loud 'thunk'.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In a building, a courthouse, the real target of his anger sat. He wore a wig over his dark hair, the horns of his hair pushing the wig upward in such a way that it was nearly comical, but his hard gaze was not. His eyes were a cold blue, the people around him silent as he gave his verdict. "This is the second time, sir, you have been brought before this bench." The two men on podiums next to him seemed relaxed as other listened to him. "Though it is my earnest wish ever to temper justice with mercy, your persistent dedication to a life of crime is an abomination before God and man." The one that he was speaking to was a young boy, barely even thirteen it seemed, but with how small he was there was no way to tell. He seemed like a boy from a poor family, his clothing dirty as he looked sadly up at the male judge before him. "I therefore sentence you to hang by the neck until you're dead. And may the Lord have mercy on your soul." His lackey, Skulker, looked surprised at the verdict, but didn't appear upset that his master was sentencing a child to hang. "Court is adjourned." As he stepped down from his post the boy began to cry, his sobbing soft in the room that was now filing with sounds of others talking about the trial they had just witnessed the end to.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Outside the courthouse the same male was walking down steps, his movements smooth as he looked forward, Skulker coming to walk beside him. "Thank you, Your Honor." Vlad paid him little mind as the pair continued down the stairs. "Just the sentence we wanted." The lackey was silent for a moment as he stared at the judge beside him. Skulker wasn't super tall, though he did tower over most people, though Vlad himself found his stature nothing compared to the man at his side.

"Was he guilty?" Vlad inquired, not that he cared. He cared not for the people that appeared before him. They were just part of his job and while he thrived on having the power to do what he wanted, he didn't care about the peons that fought for their very lives. He could give them freedom or death. He cared not for justice, just for thrill he got from having control over another's very life.

"Well, if he didn't do it, he's surely done something to warrant a hanging," was the taller male's response with a smile.

"What man has not?" the judge asked, the dark haired male at his side blinking at the words spoken.

"Sorry?" he asked in confusion. Vlad seemed to realize his error at speaking those words and with a shake of his head turned to Skulker.

"No matter. Come. Walk home with me. I have news for you, my friend." Placing a hand on the taller man's shoulder he ushered him down the street, his hand falling away as his steps were brisk. "In order to shield her from the evils of this world, I have decided to marry my dear Lily," the older male stated with a smile. He had waited for this day, the day that his ward would be old enough for him to take as his wife. The woman whom had given birth to her, his own obsession, and unable to join him in his bed, not that he hadn't had her at that party so long ago. No, he had taken her and then she had taken her life. He would never again get to enjoy her body, but his ward, she looked like her mother and would fit the bill. On top of all that she was untouched and therefor, his and only his.

"Sir, happy news indeed." The dark headed male smiled, knowing his master's thoughts in regards to the raven haired beauty that he had taken in upon her mother's death. They turned a corner, Vlad pausing outside a shop with a grim look.

"Strange though, when I offered myself to her, she showed a certain reluctance," he said, frowning at the thought that his ward would not accept his attentions. Her mother had been that way as well, but then again she had been in love with the man he had sent away. Her husband being gone had not given her reason enough to accept his own wooing of her. Skulker raised a finger.

"Excuse me, my lord. May I request, my lord. Permission, my lord, to speak?" Vlad raised a brow at him, nodding at the request. "Forgive me if I suggest, my lord. You're looking less than your best, my lord." Vlad scowled at that, feeling that he was at the peak of his life. He was still young, even at the age of forty and rich enough that he could have any woman that he wanted. "There's powder upon your vest, my lord." The older male brushed it off, dust flying into the air. "And stubble upon your cheek." He touched his cheek now, the small bit of stubble nothing to concern him and yet he listened as his lackey continued. "And ladies, my lord, are weak."

"Stubble, you say?" he asks, his tone cold at being thought of as flawed, but he turned toward the window behind him. "Perhaps I am a little overhasty in the mornings." He touched the beginnings of a beard on his face.

"Fret not though, my lord I know a place, my lord." Vlad turned to look at him, his brow raised. "A barber, my lord, of skill." He looked interested now. "Thus armed with a shaven face, my lord, some eau de cologne to grace, my lord." The judge seemed rather pleased with the idea of getting all cleaned up, if it would draw his little ward to his side. "And musk to enhance the chase my lord and you'll dazzle the girl until she bows to your every will." This was very promising so he nodded in agreement.

"Barber? Take me to him." Skulker smiled, his grin one of ill intent. He knew that the young girl was just a child compared to his own master, but he would do whatever his lord asked of him and aid him in his quest to bed the young maiden.

"His name is Dan, my lord, and he is the very last word in barbering," he stated as they headed off down the street, others paying them little attention as they conspired to help Vlad in getting his woman.


	9. Chapter 9

Paulina is pouring the young male some gin, the look of one that seems uninterested with dealing with Nathan though she still warns the red headed boy, "You ought to slow down a bit, lad. It'll go straight to your head." The boy still downs the small glass with one gulp before placing it before him.

"They used to give it to us in the workhouse so as we could sleep," he explained, his gaze on the glass before him. He shot her a look. "Not that you'd want to sleep in that place, ma'am. Not with the things what happen in the dark." The Latina is looking above her every few seconds, listening to the boy talk, though she seems preoccupied with the room upstairs and the fact that she hasn't heard anything from the space after all the thumps she had just heard and the fact that the boy had just come from up there.

"That's nice, dear. Think I'll just pop in on Mr. Phantom for a tick." She stands up, corking the bottle after refilling his drink. Before attempting to leave the boy she asks, "You all right, there?"

"Leave the bottle," is his response as he downs half of the glass. He watches her leave, a look of interest in his eyes. He knows that something is going on in this establishment, but he can't tell what it is or if he should trust the woman before him.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"That lad is drinking me out of house and home," the raven haired woman mutters as she enters the room above her shop. Dan is there, his back to her as he cleans off the blade in his hand. Paulina looks around the space, her gaze searching for a moment before she asks Dan, "How long till Walker gets back?"

"He won't be back," the raven haired male responds. She notices the blade now, her teal eyes growing wide at the implication she is getting by his actions.

"Mr. P, you didn't," she asks, her body stiff. When he fails to meet her eyes for a moment, his glance shifting to the trunk next to him. Her eyes follow his gaze, her gaze falling on the chest before her. Opening it up slowly, she almost can't bring herself to look in that container, her teal orbs widening further. Before her is the mutilated body of the barber from the square. She can't believe what she is seeing, fear seizing over her as well as the darkness of his act. "You're barking mad. Killing a man what done you no harm." Dan still didn't meet her eyes, but now she realized that it wasn't because he felt bad or even guilty of what he had done, he just didn't want to stop his task. Those blades were more important to him and she knew it.

"He recognized me from the old days. Tried to blackmail me." He glanced at the body with a sneer. "Half me earnings." Paulina didn't know how to react to that. She was all for helping Dan with his revenge, but to think that this male had to die all because he knew the man before her. Stepping back she shrugged.

"Oh, well, it's a different matter then. For a moment there, I thought you'd lost your marbles." This time when she opened up the chest she didn't hesitate, her teal eyes taking in the gore before her. His brain had slipped further back in his skull, well what was left of it. His lifeless eyes had already glazed over with the shroud of death. "All that blood. Poor bugger." Dan walks by her, still shining his blade as he stands before the door, the window showing all the houses before him. "Well, waste not, want not." She reached in and finding a pocket took out his pouch of money. "So, what are we gonna do about the boy then?" Paulina asked as she slammed the chest.

"Send him up." His lips curled as he looked into the shiny blade of his knife.

"Oh, we don't need to worry about him. He's a simple thing," she said with a glance toward him. He snarled at her, his eyes flashing green at her.

"Send him up!" he growled at her. She turned into a simpering woman, her bottom lip pouting.

"Now, Mr. T, surely one's enough for today," she stated, moving closer to him until she was breast to chest, though he didn't allow her close enough to touch him. Even if he wasn't a widow, he found this busty hussy nothing to take a second look at. She was too cold, too detached. "Besides, I was thinking of hiring the lad to help me run the shop." She looked up at him with her puppy dog look. "My poor knees aren't what they used to be." He sneered at her as he took a step back from the feel of her heated form.

"All right," he snapped, walking away from the raven haired female.

"Course, we're gonna have to stock up on the gin. Boy drinks like a sailor," she said with a thoughtful look. Dan stood before the window, his eyes noting a familiar person coming from the dark alley with the one person he yearned to kill.

"The Judge." Paulina raised a brow, her mouth opening to say something when Dan turned on her, his voice insistent, "Get out." When she just stood there before him, looking lost he glared at her, his voice rising as he snarled, "Get out!" That seemed to pull her out of her fog as she moved quickly to leave the space. Dan went wait at the door, his arm ready when he realized that he had blood on his sleeve and some on the front of his shirt. Looking around, he spotted a jacket. Tossing it on just in time he turned to look at the door, the sound of the bell over the door twinkling as the judge entered his room. He straightened his body, fighting the urge to bash this man's face in as he had done Walker just moments before. Schooling his features he locked eyes with the male before him.

"Mr. Phantom?" the dark haired male inquired, his blue eyes giving the male before him an once over.

"At your service," Dan said with a slight incline of his body, as if in respect of the loathed male before him. He took a step forward, his hand falling on the chair to his right. "An honor to receive your patronage, my lord." This seemed to bother the judge, his dark brow raising as he looked suspicious of the barber.

"You know me, sir?" Dan was quick, knowing all that he needed to do was suck up to the judge. He knew that doing this would make his stomach turn even more than it was doing now, but it would be worth it to get a shot at the male before him.

"Who in this wide world does not know the great Judge Masters?" the dark haired male said, his lips twitching as he threw the judge a few tentative smiles. It wasn't because he was afraid, nervous maybe, but not afraid. He was trying to hold back the need to do harm to this male, to kill him as he had done his wife all those years before. He held his daughter's life in his hands and yet, Dan knew that he couldn't just up and kill the male before him. No, he had to have patience.

"These premises are hardly prepossessing, and yet Skulker tells me you're the most accomplished of all the barbers in the city." The judge walked around the room, his eyes flickering to every wall as if unsure if he should really be here for a shave. Maybe Skulker was wrong about the talents of the male before him.

"That is gracious of him, sir." Danny watched him move around the space, his face twitching slightly again at having to act like he was the good guy. "What may I do for you today, sir?" Dan asked, standing behind the older male now before the window overlooking the city. "A stylish trimming of the hair?" Dan took off the other man's coat, Vlad turning to give him a strange look. "Soothing skin massage? Sit, sir. Sit." The evil judge moved away from him, but not before telling the other man of his problem, the reason for his visit.

"You see, sir, a man infatuate with love. Her ardent and eager slave." His eyes locked on Dan's own blue ones as he continued, "So fetch the pomade and pumice stone and lend me a more seductive tone." Removing his necktie the older man moved toward the chair, Dan still watching him with a look of interest, not that he cared about what this man before him really wanted. "A sprinkling perhaps of French cologne... But first, sir, I think a shave." He sat down in the chair now as Dan moved to his side.

"The closest I ever gave," the younger male stated, taking the time to set up the chair a bit to make the other male comfy, a whistle leaving his mouth. The tune wasn't one that Vlad knew, but he seemed to think that the other male was feeling happy.

"You're in a merry mood today, Mr. Phantom." As if he knew this man and his normal carrying ons? Who was he to say that Mr. Phantom were not a joyful man or a pensive one?

"'Tis your delight, sir, catching fire From one man to the next," the barber stated with a smirk of pleasure. He pulled the cloth around the neck of his customer, the thought of it being a noose causing Dan to feel so happy... or maybe his hands as he squeezed out the judge's life.

"'Tis true, sir, love can still inspire the blood to pound the heart leap higher." Dan whisked the cream in his cup, the foam becoming firmer for him to use to shave the male in his chair.

"What more?" Dan asked, lathering up the brush, his eyes only on the male before him.

"What more?" Vlad inquired back, unsure what the man was asking him.

"What more can man require than love, sir?"

"What, sir?"

"Women," the dark haired male stated, his mind going over the one woman that he loved, the one that was gone.

"Yes, women," the judge stated, his own mind going back to the one woman that he had lusted for, the one that Dan himself was thinking about.

"Pretty women." They stood there, Dan finishing his task at covering the stubble of the judge who lay before him. He turned from him, walking over to the drawers to grab his knife, his blue eyes flashing to green as Vlad lay there with his eyes closed. Dan muttered to himself, to the blade before him about how he must wait and so should the blade. They would have their revenge, but at this point even if they both wanted to spill the blood of the judge it would do them no good.

'Make haste, and if we wed you'll be commended, sir," Vlad stated, drawing Dan back in surprise that his victim were to rush him.

"My lord and who, may it be said is your intended, sir?" He knew that whoever this male wanted as his bride was going to be happy to lose such a dick for a husband.

"My ward," was his response and the barber felt his heart stop, anger flickering in his blue gaze. This man, this bastard of a man was going to try and marry his daughter, the same one that had lost her parents to the foul man at his mercy? "A pretty little rosebud."

His eyes narrowed at those words, but he still asked the other man, "Pretty as her mother?"

"What? What was that?" the judge asked, his head turning slightly, though he never saw the other male leaning over his shoulder looking malicious.

"Nothing, sir. Nothing. May we proceed?" It was a question, but he didn't wait for an answer, talking to the other male about women. They both talked, but with every shave on the exposed neck of his intended victim he found his hand trembled. The blade lusted for blood to be spilled, and he was finding that he too yearned for the blood of the vile male to spill upon the shining end of his knife. His heart beat in tune to this call, his head singing of all the ways he could enjoy this kill. The door burst in, the blond from before entering without a knock.

"Mr. Phantom! I've seen Lily and she said she'd leave with me tonight!" he cried in triumph, failing to note the stiffening of both men before him. Vlad was up, his eyes narrowed at the blond before him.

"You," he spat, his hand using the cloth around his neck to wipe away the foam on his face. "There is indeed a higher power to warn me thus in time. Lily elope with you? I'll make sure that neither you nor any other man shall ever set eyes on her again." He turned from the younger male, his eyes landing on a rather lackluster Dan, the other male looking as if someone had just died... his chance at killing the male before him was lost... His plan was foiled. "As for you, barber, it's all too clear what company you keep." The judge rushed to gather his coat, his eyes still narrowed on the barber while he made his way toward the exit. "Service them well and hold their custom, for you'll have none of mine," he raged, his face turning red in anger before he disappeared out the door. It slammed soundly behind him as Dan turned his cold blue eyes on the male before him. This boy had ruined his chance at killing the male holding his daughter, the man who had forced him from his young family and the love of his life. The man who had forced his young wife to end her life and who had left the young child without love from either parent.

"Get out," he hissed, turning his head from the boy for a moment as he fought the urge to kill the male before him. When the blond failed to heed his tone Dan found his power flaring over his body, but he managed to keep it close as he screamed, "Get the fuck out!" The blond's eyes grew wide at the force of his bellow and stumbling back left the dark haired male alone in the room.


	10. Chapter 10

Paulina comes rushing into the room, her eyes wide as she notices how angry the male before her appears. She can see his eyes have turned green, flashing brightly in the dim room but she approaches him none the less. "All this shouting and running about, what's happened?" Dan snarls, turning from her as his eyes revert to a bright blue.

"I had him," he hisses as he looks down at his hands. "And then-" Paulina interrupts him, almost seeming unconcerned with his reason for being so upset.

"The sailor busted in, I know, I saw them both running down the street and I said-" His blue eyes flash to green again at her meaningless prattle, but he doesn't turn to her, no he walks toward the window with a sneer twisting his lips.

"I had him!" he raged, his hands closing in fists at his side. "His throat was bare Beneath my hand!" Paulina doesn't know what is happening. Sure, she knew that he was in rage that his plan was interrupted, but he would get his chance again. It was only a matter of time. She walks closer to him, hoping to calm him down.

"There, there, dear. Don't fret-" She is cut off when Dan turns his green gaze on her, his power flickering around him even as he tries to tame it, though his anger is clouding his mind. She now takes a step back, but only one as she watches him.

"No, I had him! His throat was there, And he'll never come again!" the dark haired male bellowed, his voice sure to be heard by the people outside, or even the kid that was downstairs drinking the gin left in his company. She needs him to calm down.

"Easy now. Hush, love, hush. I keep telling you-" Again she is cut off, the male before her to pissed off to listen to what she has to say. She knows that his anger is just simmering at this point, the look in his eyes promising death to anyone near him.

"When?!" he hisses, his gaze settling on her.

"What's your rush?" she inquires. She has kept him from his goal, even with her standing by his side with no fear at what he had planned to do just above her head.

"Why did I wait? You told me to wait!" He walks away from her, his skin tinting with a slight blue color, his raven hair flickering with strands of white as his anger grows, the demon inside of him yearning to be let free. "Now he'll never come again!" He looks out the window, his heart pounding as the darkness in his heart, all the years that he has been kept locked away from his loved ones, boiling over. "There's a hole in the world Like a great black pit and it's filled with people who are filled with shit," the male spits, his voice filled with hate and malice. "And the vermin of the world Inhabit it." A smirk twists his lips, but this twist isn't just the telling of his plan for the ones that walk below him, but of a greater evil in his soul. "But not for long!" He looks to her, her teal eyes wide as he changes before her, his green eyes narrowed on her while his raven hair has gone completely white and almost ghost like in substance. He takes a step toward her as energy flickers in his hands, the green orbs just barely the size of a baseball, but the green of them is bright and reflects back at him from her wide orbs. "They all deserve to die! Tell you why, Miss Canal," he sneers with another step toward her. "Tell you why. Because in all of the whole human race, Miss Canal." He reaches for her, his hands still hot with the orbs of energy. They burn at her clothing, at her skin that turns red under his touch. He pushes her into the chair that her former husband had stayed in until his death. "There are two kinds of men and only two."

She leans back as the energy in his hand changes shape, that of a green blade that glitters with the energy it is made off. The heat that had been on her shoulders is now gone, well, moved from her shoulders while the heat from the blade rests close to her neck. She almost wants to hold her breath in, to keep the blade from nicking her skin, but she knows that will not stop the very pissed off male from killing her if he so wishes. "There's the one staying put in his proper place and the one with his foot In the other one's face!" He pulls away, Paulina's eyes clenched tight in fear of him doing the deed he is threatening, walking away from her as he takes his position back at the window. He is in anguish, his hair changing back to black even as his eyes retain their green tint. "Look at me, Miss Canal, look at you!" He isn't even seeing anything as he continues his speech, "No, we all deserve to die! Even you, Miss Canal, even I."

She cowers in the seat, her eyes now open as she watches him with a wary gaze.

"Because the lives of the wicked should be," he says, slashing his hand out, the energy dissipating in the air before him as he imagines his enemy before him. "Made brief." He moves back to Paulina's side, his energy gone, but the strength of his hands on her neck keep her from moving as he glares down at her. His skin is changing back to normal, the blue tint of death gone from his appearance. "For the rest of us, death will be a relief," he states, his voice low even as he rages on. "We all deserve to die!" As his hands tighten around her neck, her own skin changing color before him, he releases a howl of despair. "I'll never see Lily. No, I'll never hug my girl to me. He thrusts the Latina away from him, her face slowly returning to a more even tone while she coughs. He pays her no heed, his eyes reverting to blue as he sings about what his plans are. Slowly the anger in his tone changes to one of hate and revenge, the husky tones full of pain and misery at his own misfortunes and those of his family. His wife is dead, left alone in a time when she needed him and he was unable to protect her. His child about to be married off to the man who he done all this over greed and lust for her mother.

Dan turns on her, his eyes narrowed at her strange look, her gaze turning to the trunk.

"That's all very well, but what are we going to do about? she inquires, her booted foot kicking at the trunk where the body of the other barber lays, his body stiffening, the smell of death having yet to fill the room. He says nothing at first, the thought of how to do away with the evidence never coming to mind as he dreams of all the people he will kill, all the hundreds that will fall at his hands. "Listen! Do you hear me? Get a hold of yourself!" she bemoans as she strikes his cheek in frustration. Paulina knows that he is crazy, and that smacking him isn't the brightest idea she's had since taking him in, but she knows that now that there is a dead body in the space above her shop that she could end up going away like he had. He snarls at her strike, standing up, his eyes flashing green. He walks past her, past the trunk where the body lay, his body tired from the surge of his powers that he hasn't used in so long that they drain him rather quickly. The dark haired woman follows close behind, closing the door behind her as she rushes down the stairs to catch up with him.

They enter her shop, the small red headed boy gone. At first she worries about where he could be but upon the pair entering the parlor they find the small boy asleep on the couch before the fire, the bottle of gin sitting on the floor next to the boy. Pushing Dan back into her shop, away from the one that could cause it all to come crashing down should he realize what has not only happened to his master, but the fact that the man who had done it was still in the mood for more such killings. She pours Dan a tumbler of gin, hands it to him as he sits down at the table he had sat down at the first time he had entered the shop. He takes a big drink, his mind working on the puzzle of how to get rid of the body. "Now, we got a body molderin' away upstairs, what do you intend we should do about that?"

"Later on, when it's dark, we'll take him to some secret place and bury him," he says, seeming sure that even though they would have to wait that it would be a simple task to do away with the dead man. "After all, the man has no family, save for the young boy with him and even he isn't all that close to the bastard that was his master." She stood, pushing the curtain back to look outside the window. She paused in her thoughts, another thought coming to her at that moment. Dan was thinking about all the people he would be killing, all the bodies that he would have to hide and frowned at the thought that it would be hard to hide that many bodies when he noticed the gleam in her eyes as she turned to him.

"Seems a downright shame," she whispers, her eyes flickering to the shop on the other side of the street.

"Shame?" he askes, wondering if he should just go ahead and kill the Latina, especially if she thinks that murdering the male upstairs was a bad idea. She could turn on him, but at her next words he finds that she is anything but shamed at the death of the male in the trunk.

"Seems an awful waste... Such a nice plump frame he has..." she fades off with a thought of how to explain her idea. "Had." It doesn't sound right so she goes back to the word 'has'. "Nor it can't be traced." He raises a dark brow at her words, still slightly confused as to what she would want to do with the dead body and he is sure that is what she is talking about. "Business needs a lift and debts to be erased." A light enters his eyes as he begins to get it, the vulgar act that she is thinking of. "Seems an awful waste. I mean, With the price of meat what it is."

"Ah!" Though the thought is a sick one, he finds that the idea of doing this act would be far more permanent in the ways of removing any evidence.

"Take, for instance, Mrs. Mooney and her pie shop. Business never better, using only pussycats and toast." He took another drink of his gin, the drink burning his throat. "And a pussy's good for maybe six or seven at the most. And I'm sure they can't compare to all that one body, filled with fat and muscle, could make and even the taste of it. Dan smirked at that thought, though another part of him rolled over. He wasn't the man he was before, willing to kill and now he would compel the masses that had stood by as his wife was raped, to become cannibals, to become far more dark then they ever thought they could be.

"Miss Canal, what a fitting idea. Eminently practical and yet appropriate as always." He watched the woman before him, her smile one of pure evil, not that her evil would ever compare to his own. He would use her, use her as a lackey that would do as he asked. He could see the lust that had glittered in her eyes on several occasions, but he didn't want her in that way. He didn't want another soul in that way. He needed nothing, save for his revenge. "Ah, these are desperate times, Miss Canal, and desperate measures are called for." She goes to the counter and comes back with an imaginary pie.

"Here we are now, hot out of the oven." She holds the imaginary pie out to him with a sly and wicked smile.

"What is that?" he askes as he eyes the imaginary item. She looks past him as she answers.

"It's educator. Have a little teacher." He looks past her, his eyes falling on a male standing before what is obviously a school, the male is bald, his green eyes seem to look back at them, but he is obviously looking at a small child that is walking towards him.

"Is it really good?" he inquires with frown.

"Sir, it's too good, at least. He is ripe with knowledge and ready to serve the masses." Dan looks at imaginary pie before looking at the teacher standing there, his body rather portly.

"Awful lot of fat," he muttered.

"Only where it sat, though fat is good for flavor."

"Haven't you got poet or something like that?" His eyes turned to spot a gothic looking male, his lanky form leaning up against a wall as he reads a book about death.

"No, you see the trouble with poet is, how do you know it's deceased? Try the teach. He pretends to take a bite from the imaginary pie, his mouth curled up into a smile.

"Mmm, a little dry." They continue to talk about all the yummy meals that could be planned around his soon to be patrons and even more tastes that would vary from each body used to make her pies. The pair walks by the windows, each new male walking by talked about as if he were a meal just waiting to be tasted by his peers. Paulina smiled at the man next to her, still sure that she could convince him to be with her, even more than just a partner at his side. She wanted him, had since seeing him before he had been sent off to prison. She knew he had loved his wife, but with the other woman out of the way, he was free to enjoy a little romp with her. Dan reaches out, grasping a rather large butcher knife in his hand. Smirking at the reflection in the blade he could see the blood drip from it, the body laying behind him on the floor as it bled out. He turned to her, the blade coming to touch her neck where his fingerprints still stood out, red against the darkened flesh. "I'll come again when you have judge on the menu." She doesn't feel fear at this, no, she is sure that he needs her now to complete his plan. As he walks away from her, his gaze flashing at all the potential victims for them, he leans on the window, the blade of his knife flashing brightly. No one outside seems to notice as they all go about their business. Paulina joins him as they stare out the dusty pane. "We'll serve anyone and to anyone!"


	11. Chapter 11

Inside another home, the skies dark above it, is a raven haired girl, her bluish amethyst eyes downcast as she loads several items into a bag on her bed. She is quiet in her haste, sure that if she makes too much noise that her guardian will come and find what she is doing. She is so intent on her task that she fails to hear the footsteps outside her door, the only barrier between her and the household squeaking open. She paused, her eyes growing a wide at the thought of who is behind her, but she doesn't look, just a slight turn of her head to see behind her.

"So it's true," the male mutters darkly, his shadowy form taking up her whole doorway. He doesn't take a step into the room, just stands there, waiting. She turns around, her body tense when she sees that it is her guardian and he looks none to happy, but she doesn't care.

"Sir, a gentlemen knocks before entering a lady's room," she states, stiffening her spine as if she isn't afraid of the male before her. There has always been something about him that has made her wary of him. His light touches and attempts at wooing her just make her all the more uncomfortable. He treats her like he owns her, like he has rights to her body and by keeping her in the home also keeps her from the chance to find her own life.

"Indeed he does, but I see no lady," he states, moving slowly into the room, his eyes flashing red at the hurt that she had inflicted upon him after all that he has done for her. He gave her all she ever needed. He gave her a roof over her head, good food to eat, and clothes as well as his own attention. He moves like a snake, his movements shifty as he eyes her. "I told myself the sailor was lying." He stops just a few feet from her, the raven haired woman leaning back from him slightly even as she tries to keep herself strong against his words and possible actions to finding out that she was indeed attempting to leave his care. "I told myself this was a cruel fiction, that my Lily would never betray me." He shakes his head at her, his blue eyes flashing again. "Never hurt me so." The small woman holds her ground even as she feels fear skitter up her spine.

"Sir, I will leave this place." He doesn't react the way she thought he would. No, he nods at her.

"I think that only appropriate. Since you no longer find my company to your liking, madam," he states, nodding toward the door where Skulker appears, his eyes flashing. "We shall provide you with new lodgings." He moves toward her, Lily taking a stumbling step back from him. She still manages to look brave even as her heart pounds and her eyes widen in fear. "Until this moment I have spared the rod ..." he fades off as he takes another step toward her, but this time she holds her space, only her body shaking in fear. "And the ungrateful child has broken my heart. Now you will learn discipline. When you have learned to appreciate what you have, perhaps we shall meet again. Until then ... think on your sins." With a nod toward the other male he walks our of the room, Skulker just standing there for a moment as he eyes the ward of his master. She seems to think it is going to be okay, a shuddering release of air seems to set him off and he lunges at her. She cries out as he grabs her wrists, her eyes glistening before tears come streaming down her face. He slaps her once across the face, her cries going silent before he drags her out of the home to where a carriage awaits them.

Dash, the blond male that had come to take her away, stands just across the street, his blue eyes narrowing as the sound of Lily's tears hit his ears. He can see her now, her body thrashing around as she attempts to fight back against the minion of Vlad. Spotting Vlad standing there at the door as the carriage door slams shut, he rushes over, his fear of the older male gone as he tries to stop the vehicle from taking his love. He is too late, her face pressed against the window in the back of the moving carriage the last thing he sees, her face pale, but her cheeks flushed as she cries out. Dash turns his attention to the man responsible for what is happening.

"Where are you taking her?!" he askes, his fist clenched at his side. "Tell me or I swear by God-!" he rages, the dark haired male turning toward him, his eyes flashing red at the sight of the one responsible for turning his ward against him.

"WOULD YOU KILL ME, BOY?!" he howls, his voice echoing around them on the darkened streets. He holds his hands out, leaving his chest open for attack. "HERE I STAND!" Dash stands there, his blue eyes flashing in anger, his nails digging into his palms, debating on whether he could actually do any harm to the male before him. He decides that he will not fight, going after the carriage as it disappears down the street, turning a corner into the shadows of the houses that tower over it.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dan sits on the floor of the room upstairs, his eyes looking down at the small framed pictures in his hands. It shows a picture of his wife, her smile so full of adoration as she looks to him next to her and then in the next picture is her holding their child. The baby is smiling at her mother, pure joy on Samantha's face. He shuts the the combined frames, his eyes turning to gaze at the chair behind him and then an idea seems to come to him and moments later find him taking the chair apart, fashioning it into a more mobile way to dispose of the bodies that he plans to slice while they get their shave or hair cut. He works like a madman, his plan to start the next day if possible and after all is said and done the new chair is complete. Dan stands over it, his face neutral but you can see the malice in his blue gaze as he takes in his creation.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The large dark haired male fills his days with killing. Each person that takes a seat in his chair falls victim to his blade, the blood spurting out onto his sleeve, his chest, or his legs as their bodies grow slack and with each kill the push of a pedal finds the body dropping into an empty room below. Dan wonders about his daughter, the one that he has yet to meet as an adult woman. He wonders at her appearance, if she does indeed look like his wife with her long raven hair and if her eyes are his own blue ones or his beloved Samantha's amethyst gaze. He knows that he may never see her again, even if he were to wish it, but he knows that he will find a way to kill the judge holding her captive.

Outside his window is the beggar woman from before, her eyes wide in the darkness as she notices all the smoke coming from a chimney that has been running day and night it seems. She watches it with such an intense gaze, muttering about the devil that resides in that place where the smoke comes from while Paulina herself is walking down the stairs into a lone room. Above her the door opens to where Dan awaits for his newest victim to sit so he can kill another soul.

As Nathan walks by, all dressed up and looking far more healthy than when he first came to Paulina's doorstep, the beggar grasps his arms, her body shaking in fear as she pleads for him to hear what she has been telling everyone who passes by her. "There is evil in there!" The red headed lad brushes her off as Paulina comes back from that room, a tray of pies in her hand. She is waiting for Nathan at the door when he crosses the street from the beggar woman who still cries out about the evil that is in their town.

Dan has killed several people, even as he thinks of his daughter and the way things would have been had he not been sent away, a man getting a real shave in his shop instead of being killed as his wife and young daughter sit off to the side on the trunk that once housed the body of another barber. After that though, he is back to killing, simply slicing the necks of his victims as if he is bored.

During this time Dash has been walking the streets, looking for the woman that Dan is thinking off, his search for where her guardian has hidden her rather easy to find as he comes to a place called 'Amity Asylum'. In the barred window above him Lily stands, her gaze sad as she looks down upon him, but neither is planning on giving up even if it seems hopeless.


	12. Chapter 12

The once shabby, run down establishment has become a thriving business as several people mill around inside, all of them eating pies with smiles on their faces. Outside the structure is a small outdoor eating space, complete with Chinese lamps to light the modest area and some plotted plants and birds in cages. A new sign is above the once barren shop that proudly proclaims 'Miss Canal's World Famous Meat Pies' in big bold letters. The outdoor area is filled to compacity with people standing in some cases as they munch on the delicious looking pies in their hands. The beggar woman from before is now looking at the food in their hands, watching as they chomp into the freshly baked pies. She yearns to approach, though she is still sure that this is the same place that fills her with fear the hunger is stronger, but before she can approach Nathan comes bursting out from the interior of the establishment. He is clothed in new threads, his worn out clothing a thing of the past.

He stands before the building, his eyes bright and his hair shimmering in the light from the streetlamps that line the streets. Several people walk past him into the brightly lit shop as he calls out, "Ladies and gentlemen, May I have your attention, please?" Some people stop at his loud call. "Are your nostrils aquiver and tingling as well at that delicate, luscious ambrosial smell?" More people stop, noticing all the business in the indoor and outdoor eating space of the large structure, others continue on pass though the smell of the food being served reaches their nostrils. "Yes they are, I can tell..." He moves about, keeping up with the people that are strolling by him or even the ones that enter the building behind him. "Ladies and gentlemen, you can't imagine the rapture in store," Nathan states happily as another couple enters the building. "Just inside of this door!" He follows behind the couple, heading into the gated area of the outdoor eating space, his smile bright as he checks on each of the patrons, all of them unable to talk to him as they inhale the pies on their plates.

Paulina exits the shop, her hands full with a tray of more of the steaming pies. Along with the up do of the shop she has gone out and changed her appearance with a new dress, her hair cut short and makeup on her face. She smiles at all the people crowding her shop. Spotting her young ward she calls out, "Nathan!" The small red headed lad comes to her side and she quickly gives him instructions to fill the ale at one of the tables off to one side. As he does this neither has noticed the beggar moving toward them, her body moving slowly across the street.

She moves around, throwing instructions to the small boy, while conversing with her patrons, all of them happily filling their faces, unaware of what they are eating. As Paulina turns a corner she notices the beggar woman just feet from the fence, her large eyes a dull amethyst tone. She looks so dirty, her face almost sunken from lack of food or something else. "Nathan! Get rid of her!" she snaps as she turns to walk around each table, keeping her patrons rather happy with all her attention. While the lad is shooing the strange woman from the edges of the shop, Dan comes out from the room above, his blue eyes taking in all the people eating the pies. He paces back and forth on the small balcony that connects to the stairs to the outdoor space. He seems to be looking for someone, but is unable to locate whoever it is. Paulina warns her patrons to enjoy their meal, that there is nothing more to fill their stomachs with as she is all out of the filling for the pies. Turning a sign over her door to 'Sold Out' a man enters the area, his form moving to walk up the stairs where Dan awaits him. "Fresh supplies," she murmurs as the pair of men disappear into the dark haired male's barber shop. As she turns from watching Dan she sees that the beggar is in the actual shop now and commands her ward to remove the offending woman. It is strange how vicious she becomes over the raven haired woman, though as she is dirty and an beggar it makes sense that she doesn't want her customers harassed.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The next afternoon finds Nathan running around a nice looking park, a tree behind him shades Dan and Paulina as the pair sit on a blanket. The raven haired male seems lost as the woman next to him talks about how well business is doing and about what she could do to aid in making the shop even more successful. "... which is not to say we couldn't get some nice taxidermy animals to bring a touch of gentility to the place. You know, a boar's head or two..." she fades off when she notices that Dan isn't looking at her, his eyes dazed as he watches something in the distance. Around them are happy couples, their heads touching as they walk by with happy smiles. Her eyes narrow slightly. "Mr. P, are you listening to me?"

"Of course," he says, though he isn't really giving her his attentions. She means nothing to him... no, only getting his revenge on the one male responsible for his plight and that of his family is on his mind.

"Then what did I just say?" she asks, leaning closer to him, but he just mutters to himself.

"There must be a way to the Judge!" Paulina frowns now, her eyes turning into slits when she realizes that not only is his attention not on her, but he is still obsessed with killing the judge. She just can't understand what good it would do to kill the man, but then again she is only concerned with what she wants and that is the man before her and money.

"The bloody old Judge! Always harping on the bloody old Judge!" she snaps, her teal eyes flashing in anger, but just as quickly she tries to get him to think about the fact that they are doing so well with what meat he provides. She moves to kneel behind him, her small hands coming out to rest on his shoulders before she begins to massage his tense muscles. He winces at her touches. "We got a nice respectable business now, money coming in regular and since we're careful to pick and choose only strangers and such like that won't be missed... who's going to catch on?" He shifts forwards to remove her from touching him, but she wants him to be hers and not bent on revenge when it will do her little good for him to attack a rather well known man and a man of the law no less.

"Oooh, Mr. Phantom," she murmurs next to his ear, her breath warm against his continuously cold skin. "I'm so happy I could," she pauses to bestow a kiss on his exposed neck, unaware of the face he is making at her intimate touches. "Eat you up, I really could! You know what I'd like to do, Mr. Phantom?" Another kiss on his neck, but closer to his cheek as she moves to kneel beside him. "What I dream if the business stays as good, where I'd really like to go?" He says nothing, his mind on the judge and the disgust that fills him at her kisses, her affection. He is dead to it, but knows that he must work with her, at least for now. "In a year or so... Don't you want to know?"

"Of course." He really doesn't care what her plans for the future are because as far as he is concerned he will be gone once he completes his revenge. Paulina doesn't seem to believe him and asks again to which forcing a smile to a face, abet a rather annoyed one, he says, "Yes, yes, I do, I do." She leans back as her mind fills with all the things she yearns to do if the life they have now keeps going the way it is.

"I've always had this dream of living at the seaside ..." Her mind is filled with them sitting on a beach, Nathan playing with a ball down by the surf as they sit as they do at that moment, both of them in swimming attire of that age. His suit is black and white striped and covers him from the neck to the knee. Her own is like a little dress, the appearance of a sailor suit with a small red handkerchief around the color. "I got a picture postcard from me Aunt Starla once. Oh, it seems like such a grand place... " She looks to where Nathan is off spinning in the middle of the large clearing. "And all that fresh aquatic air's bound to be good for the lad's poxy lungs..." She sighs at the wonderful dream in her mind, though Dan isn't really all that excited by her plans. "By the sea, Mr. P, that's the life I covet; By the sea, Mr. P, Ooh, I know you'd love it! You and me, Mr. P., we could be alone!" That thought makes his lips twist in revulsion. "In a house we'd almost own, down by the sea..."

"Anything you say," the dark haired male grumbled, tired of listening to her speak of such foolish ideas, but remaining quiet otherwise. He did not want to feed into her insane future plans.

"Wouldn't that be smashing?" In her mind they were now on the porch of the home she wanted, a nice two story building painted blue and yellow as the pair of them sat in wicker chairs. She sings of all that they would do in their new home. "With the sea at our gate, we'll have kippered herring wot have swum to us straight from the Straits of Bering. Every night in the kip, when we're through our kippers, I'll be there slippin' off your slippers." In her mind she is walking into a nice little dining area, several people at her table all cheerful and talking loudly, though Dan is there too but looking rather uncomfortable with the company.

Then they are walking along the boardwalk, the pair dressed to the nines with matching outfits. "I can see us waking, the breakers breaking, the seagulls squawking!" Even in her dreams he looks quite sour and withdrawn. She leans over in her dreams to lay her head on his shoulder as they walk past other couples doing the same thing. Nathan joins them for a moment before wandering off ahead of them, the couple stopping by the railing as she smiles up at him.

They are then in a church, the pair standing before a preacher as he asks them to repeat the vows as he says them to them... Dan, in real life is looking at her dazed eyes as she finishes telling him of her plans... the plans that fill him with horror and revulsion. He doesn't want to marry her and settle down. He had his one love, the one that had been taken from him and he has no room in his heart for anyone but his lost wife. Nathan runs over, his chest moving harshly as he smiles down at them. Paulina blinks as she finds herself still sitting on the blanket under the tree, the male next to her giving her a look that she can't seem to read, but it doesn't look like love. The sun sets before them, the colors changing from bright and dreamy to dark and dreary. The three of them look pale in the late evening lighting.


	13. Chapter 13

Dan was once again back in his room, the chair behind him as he looked out the window. Paulina came to the door, a tray of food in her hand as she enters the small space. She takes a few steps into the room, the raven haired male still looking out the window, and announces, "I brought you some breakfast, dear." The large male doesn't even turn around as she lays the tray on the dresser, his glower and his form tense as he seems lost in thought. "Mr. P? Can I ask you a question?"

"What?" he inquires, still looking out the window. Paulina isn't happy that he fails to pay her any mind. She knew he was cold and she liked that, but she wanted him to give her some of his attentions. She knew that he was still attached to his wife, but the woman was dead so why couldn't he move on? It had been years since she had killed herself and yet the male before her couldn't seem to make room in his heart for a new love... a love that was alive and willing.

"What did your Samantha look like?" When she received no answer, the look on his face one that she had never seen, not that she could see him with his back to her. "Can't really remember, can you?" His scowl returned at her remark, the dark haired male wanting to reach out and snap her neck at such a comment. He could remember his wife, the love of his life. She was so beautiful and so different than most woman around him. She would never hold her tongue, choosing to speak her mind and even then she was rather forgiving even if you made her mad. She didn't take it all with a grain of salt though. No, she had a fire in her heart that could warm you or burn you if you were not careful.

"She had hair that a raven would envy, and her eyes were a bright amethyst, like the stones themselves had been fashioned into her eyes." He smiled, the love of his life standing before him even if she wasn't alive. It was her ghost that stood before him, but she was just as beautiful as she was when she had breathed. Her smile was wide and her eyes shining in adoration for him. He longed to be able to hold her, to bring her comfort as she had always done for him. He wished he could kiss her, taste her own personal taste that pulled him into her. He longed to be where home was and that was something he would never get again, but he would never forget her.

"You gotta leave this all behind, you know," the Latina stated as she came to stand behind him, her voice soft, but full of passion at the same time. "She's gone." He didn't turn from his view outside the small space. Even as Paulina leaned up against him, her bosom brushing his arm he didn't turn, though his frown deepened at her invasion of his space. "Life is for the alive, my dear. We could have a life, us two." She whispered her words, sure that she was getting thru to him, but he paid her no heed, his mind filled with images of his lost love, his heart clenching at the thought that this woman believed that she could take his wife's place in his heart. "Maybe not like I dreamed. Maybe not like you remember. But we could get by." He snarled low, the woman beside him failing to notice that he was getting rather mad, but before he could turn and tell her off the doorway was filled by a male, the blond hair gleaming in the minimal sunlight that filtered thru the grey clouds.

"Mr. Phantom! Miss Canal, ma'am?" Dash cried out, a dejected look on his face.

"What is it, Dash?" Dan inquired, though still mad at the male for causing his prey to get away, he knew that the male before him wouldn't come to him unless it was truly urgent. He had seen the fear in the blond's blue eyes when he had bellowed at him the last time.

"He has her locked in a madhouse," the male stated.

"Lily?" the taller male inquired with a raised brow. His child was locked in a madhouse? His eyes flashed green at the thought that the judge had locked his child in such a place.

"Amity Asylum," the blond stated, his eyes still wide with concern for the young raven haired female. "I've circled the place a dozen times. There's no way in. It's a fortress." Dan smiled, a rather dark smile, but a smile none the less as Paulina frowned. Her moment had been lost! She had been sure that Dan had been about to turn to her and tell her how much he loved her and that he wanted to be with her, but now he was walking away again, his obsession with one male in particular pulling him from her side.

"I've got him," the dark haired male said with a bit of joy. The blond spoke his name in confusion, his words making little sense, but Dan changed his words as he spoke them again. "We've got her." He stopped and turned toward Dash, his large hand moving to rest on the younger male's shoulder. "Where do you suppose all the wigmakers in London go to obtain their hair?" Paulina hadn't turned toward them, her own stance like Dan's had been earlier when she had entered the room. When the blond couldn't give him an answer the larger male stated, "Amity Asylum. They get it from the lunatics at Amity." The male still seemed confused and that wasn't saying much as the boy was rather daft at times.

"I don't understand," he said, his eyes no longer filled to the brim with worry, confusion was now in the mix.

"We shall set you up as a wigmaker's apprentice," Dan stated, a smile twisting his lips. "That'll gain you access. And then you take her." That's when it hit Dash what the male before him was saying, the plan to get Lily out of her new prison. "Go, quickly, go!" he yelled as he shoved a now excited and happy blond toward the door before turning to Paulina. "Fetch the boy."

"Don't you think you should leave the boy behind?" she inquires, but follows his orders at the look of anger he throws her. He watches her go with a sneer before turning his attention back to the window and the world outside his room.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Paulina walks down the stairs, her gait slow as she feels the pain at his relapse into his obsession. He had almost been hers, almost had come to her side and allowed her to be a part of his life... and into his heart, but because of the blond entering their life again with news pertaining to his old life, he was distancing himself from her. Seeing the boy in question, the one that Dan had demanded, cleaning the tables before the opening of the shop that evening she said, "Nathan. Mr. Phantom needs you." She says nothing more before disappearing into the shop, the door closing behind her. Nathan raises a brow, but still rushes up the stairs.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Before Dan is a single page, a letter in his own handwriting. He has a plan and while it means that Dash will be in dire straits he doesn't care since it will bring his intended target back to him. It simply states that he is informing the judge of Dash's (his really) plan to abduct the young girl from where the judge has placed her, but also states that he has convinced the boy to bring her here where the judge can pick her up. It will work in getting the male back to him and while it means that his daughter must suffer a bit more it is not as important as his revenge. As soon as he has his revenge then she will no longer be under the judge's thumb anyway so a little pain will mean nothing in the grand scheme. As he is finishing the letter Nathan opens the door. "Mr. P?"

"Do you know where the Old Bailey is?" the dark haired male askes as he waves the letter around to allow the ink to dry faster. The red headed boy nods. "Take this there. Seek out a Judge Masters." Handing the boy the letter he says, "Repeat that." He wants to ensure that all goes to plan and he needs the boy to get it done quickly.

"Go to Old Bailey. Find Judge Masters." Dan nods at his repetition of the instructions. "You put that into his hands. Only to him, you understand?"

"Yes, sir," the small boy states with a nod. "And while I'm out, do you mind if I stop by the grocer just to pick..." Dan cuts him off, his eyes flashing green at the boy's question. There is no time to wait, not if he wants to catch his prey and earn the judge's favor. "No. You're not to stop, you're not to speak." He stands, his steps loud in the silent room as he towers over the small boy. "You're to deliver the letter. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir." As soon as the boy has left, the door closing behind him, Dan walks back to his post, his posture tense with the knowledge that soon his target will be there and just before that or even after that he will also be in the same room as his daughter. He hasn't seen her since he was taken away, the small baby still so new to the world and so innocent. As he grows restless the large male begins to pace, the room darkening as the hours pass. He notices nothing as he waits, his heart pounding and his mind so filled with all that he needs to do to complete his obsession, never knowing what he will do once he gets rid of this obsession as it has been with him since he was taken away. He has wanted to get his revenge on the one responsible for his removal from the life he had, the life with his wife and child.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hours later finds Nathan entering the parlor of the home that is connected to the pie shop, Paulina snoozing by the fire in a chair. A book rests in her lap, a romance that she yearns for herself, but when she opens her eyes to see the wary face of Nathan she inquires, "Where you been, lad? We had quite the rush at dinner time." She stretches a bit, still unaware of the boy's travels for the day, his absence a mystery. He looks down at his feet while taking a step into the warm room. "Me poor bones is ready to drop." Nathan looks rather upset about something, even as he informs her of what he has been doing. Even as he says it she seems confused what errand that Dan could have sent him on that would take him several hours to complete.

"Mr. Phantom sent me on an errand." She sits up, the book shifting. "And on the way back, I went by the workhouse, just to take a look." Realizing that he has just been out and about on his own, abet more than what had been asked of him she lies back, her eyes closing as she allows her body to relax again. After such a long night and no help to aid her, she is worn out. "And I was thinking, but for you, I'd be there now. Or someplace worse." She smiles at that. While she may not have Dan, it seems that she does have someone who cares for her. She had never had a child, her husband unable to do much in his state of health, not that she loved him. "Seems like the good Lord sent you for me." She opens her eyes for a moment, a soft smile on her face.

"Oh, love, I feel quite the same way," is her response. Nathan has moved closer to her, though the couch is still between him and Paulina.

"Listen to me, please," he begs as he moves even closer, his child-like innocence appearing to disappear as he stand before her with a serious expression on his young face. Her eyes are closed at the moment, her face turned from him, but at his tone she turns slightly. "You know there's nothing I wouldn't do for you." Her teal eyes open at his words, words that she had hoped she would hear from the man pacing around upstairs. "Say, if there were someone around, someone bad?" He pauses as he looks down at her. "Only you didn't know it." Turning her head upward a bit she looks deeply into his eyes, the fear and unease in his depths making her worried.

"What is this? What are you talking about?" Nathan sits down on the couch, still looking so serious.

"Nothing's gonna harm you, not while I'm around," he promises. "Nothing's gonna harm you. No, sir, not while I'm around." Paulina is confused as to what Nathan is talking about. What bad person could he be talking about?

"What do you mean "someone bad"?" He doesn't answer her question, instead going on to tell her what he will do, not matter what happens to him.

"Demons are prowling everywhere, nowadays. I'll send them howling, I don't care I got ways." She feels now that he is just being paranoid.

"Hush, darling, there's no need for this." Turning from him with a smile, she closes her eyes. Nathan doesn't know how to tell her who he fears would do her harm. He doesn't have any real proof, but when the older male's eyes had flashed green at him earlier he had felt a foreboding about the male. There was just something so... evil... so cold about the male in the room upstairs. She turns back as he begins to talk again, his small voice so insistent about how he feels for the Latina.

"No one's gonna hurt you, no one's gonna dare. Others can desert you. Not to worry, whistle, I'll be there." She tilts her head to the side, an emotion flickering in her eyes at the small boy's obvious love for her. "Demons will charm you with a smile for a while. Nothing can harm you. Not while I'm around." She reaches out to touch him softly on his pale chin. She can now tell that he is quite upset about something and while she may not feel that it is something to worry about, the thought that it is bothering him makes her more curious.

"That's nice, dear. Now, what is all this foolishness?" Getting up as she grabs and closes the book, the raven haired woman moves to stand before a mirror. "What are you talking about?" She begins to mess with her hair as she looks at her pale appearance in the looking glass.

"Little things that I've been thinking..." he fades off as she turns from him and the mirror, a smile still on her face until he finishes his sentence. He seems hesitant about revealing his fear as he came aboard after the pair had already been together. "...about Mr. Phantom." Her smile disappears, her body tensing at what the boy is telling her. "Not to worry, not to worry. I may not be smart, but I ain't dumb." She moves away from him, his eyes watching her and the stricken expression on her face. He knows now that something is bothering her, but he fails to realize that she is worried about his sudden dislike of the male in the dark room above them. "Not to worry, ma'am. Being close and being clever ain't like being true. I don't need to, I won't never hide a thing from you." His eyes look upward at the unseen male. Paulina is worried. She had thought to protect the boy from his original master, unaware that her kind gesture might come back to bite her in the ass. Dan had wanted to get rid of him, to have him join Walker in the grave, but she hadn't wanted to do it. She wasn't a nice woman, her own heart cold, but she had felt bad for the boy now questioning what Dan was hiding. If he only knew that they were both in on it, both of them doing something dirty... "Like some." She must get him to let this go.

Now, Nathan, dear," she murmurs trying to hold back the guilt that has now tightened around her own heart. Her back is to him as she retrieves something from the dresser before her. "...haven't we had enough of this foolish chatter? Here." She turns to him with a rather familiar pouch, but as she is now holding out a coin he fails to notice the item. "How about I give you a nice shiny new penny and you go get us some toffees?" He smiles for a moment at the thought of a sweet treat before noticing the pouch in her hands, his eyes widening in realization and fear.

"That's Mr. Walker's purse!" he cries out. She looks down at the pouch and realizes too late that she had fucked up, but she still tries to convince him that he is mistaken.

"No, it's not. Just something Mr. P gave me for my birthday." Nathan won't give it up, his eyes narrowing slightly in conviction that he was right to worry about the woman before him when the male above him is evil.

"That proves it!" he cries out as he takes her hand and tries to lead her from the home. "We gotta go, ma'am. We gotta find Skulker and get the law here!" Her eyes glisten at the fact that she might have to harm the boy before her, but she can't let him do anything to the man she loves, the man that had been in love with all those years ago when he had been but a simple barber.

"Nathan. Hush, lad, you're not going anywhere," she whispers, her voice urgent as she moves to pull him into her arms while at the same time pulling him down to sit on the couch with her. "You just sit here, nice and quiet, next to me." As she pulls him to her breast, his head resting on the semi-exposed flesh she continues to talk even though she now finds her throat closing. "That's right, right. How could you think such a thing of Mr. Phantom?" she asks while stroking his red locks. He still looks concerned, his face scrunched up in thought as he listened to her. "He's been so good to us." While it is a lie, her own mind can only see the dream she had begun to foster all those years ago being pulled from her arms, the male upstairs in danger of being taken away from her when she was so close to calling him her own. "Nothing's gonna harm you, not while I'm around. Nothing's gonna harm you, darling. Not while I'm around," she coos as her lip quivers, the small child unaware that he has brought about his own death by questioning her about the male that she loved. She feels him settle, a smile on his face, the joy he feels by her words relaxing his body. "Funny we should be having this little chat right now. 'Cause I was just thinking..." she said, her voice catching as tears shimmer in her cold teal eyes. "You know how you've always fancied coming into the bake house with me - to help make the pies?" He looks up at her in surprise that she remembered him asking about that.

"Yes, ma'am." She knows that she is using his love for her to do him harm, but she can see no other choice in the matter. She loves Dan and her love for him is far stronger than the affection that she feels for the small red headed boy.

"Well, no time like the present, eh?" They stand and Paulina leads him to the cellar door, the large double door that leads downward hidden in the shadows between two walls just about six or so feet from the room they were in. She opens the heavy doors, Nathan standing behind her watching.

As they walk down into the darkness, the only light in the space coming from where they had entered Nathan stated, "I feel bad for you, going up and down all these stairs." She tries to ignore the slight pang those words give her.

"Well, that'll be your job now."

"Yes, ma'am." He is quite happy to aid her so that she doesn't have to work so much. Unlike his last master, Walker, Paulina has treated him well. She feeds him, has given him a job, a bed to sleep in and love. He has been thriving when he had been so worried that for the rest of his life he would be treated poorly by the now dead barber. They come to another door just a few steps from the stairs that they came down. Paulina opens the door to reveal a rather large place with a single furnace in it, the light coming thru the large grate in the front illuminating the room. "Quite a stink, ain't there?" Her eyes are full of confliction at what she must do to protect Dan. While she only feels affection for the boy to her side, she had seen him in the future she had planned, though not as much as she had seen the raven haired male in them.

"You see those grates?" she inquires as they step before the large furnace like structure. Upon closer inspection the red headed male can see that it is really a large oven, the structure towering over both of them. "They go right down to the sewers, and the smells come up. Always a few rats gone home to Jesus down there." She reaches out to grasp the handle of the large oven before pulling it open. The heat from the large contraption makes the pair start to sweat. "Now, this'll be the bake oven. Three dozen at a time. Always be sure the door is closed properly, like this." Once explaining it to him she shuts the door before she moves away.

The red headed child touches the handle now, ensuring that it is closed as he says, "Door's closed properly." Turning he follows her to another contraption, the large item about as tall as Paulina.

"This is a grinder. Pop in the meat." She looks up at the top where what appears to be meat is stacked high on it. Grasping the large turn handle on the machine she instructs him, "Give it a good grind. Pops out there." He watches as she turns the handle, the piece at the end next to him pushing out what looks like noodles made of meat. "You try."

Moving to take her space he says, "Good grind. Comes out there." He smiles at her, the dark haired woman trying to hold back her tears as she pats him on the back.

"That's my boy. I'm just gonna pop upstairs, back in two shakes, all right?" She doesn't wait for his answer, moving quickly to leave the space as the burning in her eyes increases and the pounding of her heart grows faster. Nathan turns to her as she reaches the door, his hand still on the handle of the machine.

"You mind if I have a pie while I wait?" he inquires.

"As many as you like, son," she says with a forced smile. It is too hard to look at this kid and know that while she had taken him in as a kindness, she had also used him to make her life easier. Was she crying because now she was again left to take care of all the work or was she crying because now she had to kill him to keep him from going to the law? He smiles at her, his eyes bright with love for her. Turning her back on him she exited the large space. Shutting the door she puts all the locks in place before leaning against the door as her body shakes. She has never killed anyone, no, she had been an accomplice to Dan's murdering spree and feeding the bodies to the people that came to her shop and the small boy that was now locked in the place that very well could be his grave, but she had never murdered anyone.


	14. Chapter 14

Dash, dressed more nicely as he plays the part that Dan has instructed him, walks behind a short male, the small male slightly heavy set with grey hair and green eyes. Under his greying mustache the male frowns as they walk past several rooms. The man known only as Bertrand holds a large pair of scissors. "Oh yes, sir, I agree it would be to our mutual interest to come to some arrangement in regard to my poor children's hair." Dash holds back his disgust at the male's slimy tone and at the appearance of the dingy halls around him. The place is full of people, their cries filling the air as they scream or moan. They stop in front of one room, the door like those of the others, barred but filled with people of one hair color. "I keep the dark haired ones over here. It was black hair you was looking for, sir?" Looking only thru the bars of the door, the blond himself cannot see Lily as there are several bodies packed together in the small space.

"Yes." As the door opens several of the women in the front move with a quickness, their cries alerting the other women in the cell of the one male they have come to fear. Dash can see their fear as they move as far back from the male before them as they can. Most of them form little clusters of bodies, their dark hair all different tones. They look at him with curious stares, but don't dare approach him since he seems to be with Bertrand. As the men walk further into the group of women the blond spots Lily, her eyes sad as she stares back at him. Her hair is dirty and the dress she now wears is an off white color that is tinged with dust and grime. He doesn't want to react to her, but he can feel his heart squeeze in pain and anger at her current state. Holding it together he says, "That one has hair the shade I need." At his words the greying male turns to see Lily and after clarifying that she is his target turns back to her.

The greying male stands before Lily, his eyes seeming to glow in the dimly lit room, and leaning down he says, "Come, child. Smile for the gentleman and you shall have a sweetie." His hot breath is foul as it blows over her pale flesh. The raven haired female realizes that the male who had come into the room is none other than the one that loves her. She holds back the joy at being reunited with him as Bertrand gets ready with his scissors. "Now, where shall I cut?" He looms over her with the blades, the little light entering the room hitting the large tool, but before Bertrand can begin to cut at her locks Dash produces a small gun from his vest pocket. The short male falls back, his eyes wide as he eyes the barrel of the gun that is pointed at him.

The blond reaches out and grasps the young female, pulling her soft form against his hard body. She is wide eyed at what is going on, but still clings to him as the blond shoves the older male against the wall of the cell. Backing away with the pistol still pointed at the offensive male, Dash removes Lily from the room before saying to Bertrand, "Not a word, Mr. Bertrand, or it will be your last." Slamming the door shut he states with a smirk, "Now, I leave you to the mercy of your "children."" As the pair rushes off the sound of screams can be heard down the silent halls, one scream that of the male who was now being attacked by the ones that he tended to.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

While this is going on Dan and Paulina are rushing down the stairs that connect his room with the shop. The raven haired woman is frantic, her words high pitched as she states, "I got him locked in - but if he escapes he'll go to the law!" Is that all that she is worried about or the fact that even while she is trying to protect the large male coming down the stairs behind her, she has to bring about the death of the child that she had saved from Walker.

"He can't escape," he states simply, uneasy about the fact that had the boy not gone to this woman and had instead had gone to the law that his plan would be ruined. He was upset with the child, but he had at one point intended the kill the boy for that very reason. It would stand to reason that everyone of the people he had allowed in his life since landing back in his home town has put him in a tight spot when it came to his revenge, his obsession. He may have to kill them all.

"Mr. P. I don't know... maybe we could-" she is cut off, the sound of her backpedaling only making the dark haired male angry. Yes, he should have done away with her. She was growing too attached to him as it was and her emotions were getting in the way of what he needed to do!

"The Judge will be here soon! I have no time, woman!" he hisses in frustration. Before she can respond as they turn the corner of the stairs the door to her shop opens to reveal Skulker!

Paulina is truly startled by the male and reaches out to strike him in fear before saying with a quickness, "Excuse me, sir!" Her hand is on her chest now as she breaths rather heavy from not only the rush down the stairs, but the fear of Nathan's earlier theories regarding the male behind her. "You gave me a fright." Though the blond narrow his eyes at her attack he brushes it off.

"Not my intention, good madam, though I am here on official business." As he speaks he moves out of the doorway, his manner almost appearing remorseful, but you can tell by his tone that he is anything but. Since Dan had offended the judge inadvertently because of Dash's untimely arrival in his room, the lackey of Vlad has decided to harass the taller male. "You see, there's been complaints. About the stink from your chimney." He opens a small compact filled with white powered, his gloved fingers taking a pinch of the stuff before sniffing it into his nose. "They say at night, it's something most foul. Health regulations and the general public welfare, naturally, being my duty, I'm afraid I'll have to take a look..." Again he takes another sniff of the stuff before pocketing the small compact. With a sneeze from his snuffing the powder he continues. "... at your bakehouse." Paulina looks nervous, her eyes flickering between the pair, but Dan isn't as he smirks.

"Of course, but first why don't you come upstairs and let me attend to you?" The male before him had been smirking too, but now his face twitches in surprise. He does like to be pampered when the occasion is presented, but he is on official business...

"Much as I do appreciate tonsorial adornment, I really ought see to my "official" obligations first." Placing his hand on the shoulder of the male who is just inches shorter in stature while Paulina takes a step toward the door. She doesn't trust this male, her eyes cold at his intent to investigate.

"An admirable sentiment, but I must ask you... out of professional curiosity you understand, is that a cream or a tallow pomade?" The male in question touches his golden locks, though dull in color are rather shiny.

"Oh, not a pomade at all! Me secret is a touch of ambergris," he confides with a sly smirk as he leans close to Dan.

"But, sir, hair that delicate requires a genuine pomade!" Skulker looks skeptical at this as he has been doing the same thing with his hair for years, but then Dan says, "Come along, let me show you the difference." When it appears that the blond haired male won't give in to the idea that he could do more for his hair the darker haired male states, "It will be much appreciated by the ladies." At that the male before him stops, his head turning to look at the lady before him. Paulina forces a smile on her face as she nods. They have got him!

"Well, you are the expert in these matters..." he fades off as Dan leads him up the stairs, Paulina taking a deep breath.

"How would you like a glass of bay rum?" the blue eyed male inquires as he shoots a look at the door where Paulina still stands.

"Oooh, bay rum is bracing." He seems to like the drink suggestion and as he moves further up the stairs Dan adds in that it is all on the house for a man that he considers a friend. It is hard to keep a straight face at his own lies, his own agenda coming back on track as he follows the blond male up into his barber shop. Across the street a familiar woman stands, her body slouched over as she observes the pair of men disappearing into the upstairs room. Once the door shuts she moves quickly to cross the street.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Still in the bakehouse Nathan is eating a pie as he slowly wanders around the large room. He stops to consider the many stained cleavers and bone saws, curious about why one would need such tools to make the meat pies. As he bites into his pie his face changes to one of surprise, the strange item in his mouth stopping his chewing motion. He reaches into his mouth and pulls something out, the end of a finger, complete with fingernail still on it is revealed to him in the light of the large oven. He looks at it, his eyes growing wide when he notices off in the shadows something that glistens. It seems like a pile of things and as he takes a step forward he can see what appears to be flesh, the red blood glittering in the dimly lit room. Dropping both the finger and the pie he hears a strange, loud sound as something above him opens up.

Just inches from him a body drops to the ground, the sight of Skulker, his throat slashed and the blood from his fatal wound filling the cracks of the brick floor, forces a cry out of the small red headed boy. He rushes past a shelf littered with an assortment of body parts, most of them hands. Hitting the door with the force of his young body he begins to yank at the handle only to find it locked. His eyes fill with tears at the realization that the woman he had promised to protect was possibly a part of something so vile, so disgusting, but still as he bangs on the door, the sound echoing around him in the place he still finds himself calling out, "Miss Canal! Miss Canal! Please let me out!" The thundering roar from the bake oven seems to rise to match his frenzy, the sound of the oven overpowering his cries. With a quick remembrance of what Paulina had said about the grates that spotted the floor of the large space the young male rushes to one of the ones close to him. Yanking it open he disappears into the darkness of the sewers just minutes before the door to the backhouse opens to reveal Paulina with Dan right behind her.

The pair walk around the space, surprised to find that the boy is gone, but while they do not know where he has gone or how he got out they both head for the large gate in the back of the room, the large structure taking up a good portion of the back of the room. They call for him, Dan with his blade behind his back while Paulina calls out, "Nothing's gonna harm you..."

"Nathan!" Dan yells, his face neutral even as he clenches his blade tighter. His power is swirling around him now and while he contemplates killing the woman before him he knows that with the fear the boy has of him that without her Nathan will never come forward.

"Not while I'm around..." The pair turn down the tunnels, the sewers dark save for a green glow from behind them and while Paulina fails to notice the strange eerie glow, Dan allows it to help light the way to finding the boy who tried to run to the law.

"Nathan!" Water rushes next to them, another small walkway on the other side of them. The stones that house the dank and smelly place are wet, glistening from the green glow that is in Dan's hand that he has held out between him and Paulina, but the raven haired woman is so worried about the male behind her and the boy who will ruin it all for her, that she still fails to notice it, even as it gives off a heat.

"Nothing's gonna harm you, Darling..."

"Nothing to be afraid of boy," Dan promises, though the blade that also begins to glow with the eerie green light tells another story.

"Not while I'm around." They continue down into the darkness with no sign of the boy that has escaped from his death, but how long will that last before they find him and take him down?

"Nathan," the raven haired male hisses, growing mildly frustrated with this game of hide and seek... well, kill. He yearns to complete his revenge and this boy is keeping him from doing just that. Skulker is gone and that is bound to draw the judge to his place, looking for his lackey as well as the letter that indicated that Lily would be there waiting... just waiting to be taken back into his care and the male that had taken her away from him.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dash rushes into the space that Dan has been using as his barber shop, Lily standing behind him in the doorway. Her body is covered with men's clothing and on her head is a hat to cover her dark locks. She is dazed and worried. "Mr. Phantom!" He sees that the place is empty so he turns to her as she still stands in the doorway, unsure of the place he has brought her. He walks over to stand before her. "No matter. You wait for him here and I'll return with the coach in less than half an hour." She seems doubtful that their plan will work. She can never seem to escape from the man who calls her his ward while at the same time proposes marriage to her. "Don't worry, darling, in those clothes, no one will recognize you," he states as he places his hands on her shoulders. "You're safe now." Her amethyst/blue eyes look uncertain that she is really safe. Sure, she looks nothing like she had before, her body looking a little more boyish with the clothing and the hat, but Vlad isn't who he appears. She moves away from him and toward the dresser where all of Dan's blades are laying, save for one. She touches the largest one, a voice whispering her name with such joy that she pulls her hand back.

"Safe ... So we run away and then all our dreams come true?" Her tone is bordering on sarcastic as she turns to him.

"I hope so..." he breaths with a heavy heart. He knows that she has been hurt, but he wants to put her mind at ease. He wants to take her far from the place that feels her with such depressing thoughts and words.

"I have never had dreams. Only nightmares." She turns back to the blades, something about them drawing her as memories of a dark haired male and woman look down upon her. Both are so happy as they kiss.

"Lily, when we're free of this place all the ghosts will go away." He can't seem to see it as she knows it to be. The ghosts will always be there. They will never leave her.

"No, Dash, they never go away." He moves to stand closer to her again, his rough hand coming out to touch her soft cheek as he promises that once he is back that it will all be okay. She will be safe and he will never let anything happen to her ever again. Rushing back out the door to find a carriage to take them away he fails to note the tears that glisten in her eyes. She turns to look toward a window, her steps light as she walks over to it. Below her he disappears into the darkness as she shakes her head. As soon as he has left her sight she goes to turn away when she notices the beggar woman approaching from across the street...


	15. Chapter 15

She moves around the room, her hands touching the chair behind her before being drawn to a pair of photos that gleam in their frames. She tilts it back, unaware that the beggar she had seen just moments ago is in the courtyard below her. The older female is looking around wildly for any sign of anyone in the area, the shop where the one she considers to be the devil, empty with the lights off. She takes a step toward the stairs, her footsteps on the old wood as she whisper, "Skulker... Skulker... No good hiding. I know you are in there, you bastard." Though she needs the law for whatever is going on in the shop below her.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Lily can hear the old woman's voice, her voice harsh as she continues to call out for the lackey of the male that had taken all of her life away from her, but her mind is blank as to what that life entailed. She can feel a headache forming as she walks up those familiar steps. What is it about this place that seems to cause her pain, her body warning her to steer clear, but she wanted the woman of the shop gone. She can feel the evil that resides in that shop. She pays her no heed as her eyes fall upon the blades from before, the feeling that she knew these blades, had seen them at some point though with a look around the room she knew there was no way she had ever been here before.

"Skulker... Skulker..." Hearing the voice of the beggar grow louder the young raven haired female spotting a chest in the corner, rushes to it, the lid of it slamming shut behind her just as the older female enters the room. As soon as she enters the room her disposition seems to change, her amethyst eyes wide as she looked around the space. Her eyes, like Lily's land on the blades and an image flashes in her head of a raven haired male, his smile so bright as he stared down at her. He was saying something to her, but though his lips were moving there was no sound coming from them. "He's a phantom," she mutters just before the image is gone. She blinks just as the door to the left of the one she came in, is thrust open, the raven haired male in that doorway seething as he looked down at her. Their eyes lock and it seems as if she recognizes him, the flicker of memory in her amethyst orbs, though from the abuse she had suffered and the attempted suicide, were no longer as bright as that had once been.

"What are you doing here?!" he asks, his voice bellowing around them, the wood of the room shuddering under his anger, but she didn't seem to feel it as she reached out to clutch at his shirt.

"There is an evil here, a ghost that has its claws raking across the city with death left in its wake." Dan steps back from her, her words clutching at his heart because her voice is so familiar, though much more husky in quality than he remembers. "It is the woman below," she hissed as she looked around. "She has no pity in her heart. She is the very devil meant to aid in harming those of this town." There is something in her face, though too shadowed for him to see clearly, but there is something about her that calls to him, but before he can question it further, his ears perk with the sound of someone approaching.

"Phantom!" the judge calls out, his voice breaking Dan out of his musings.

"Y-You look familiar," she murmurs, taking a step toward him, her hand reaching up for his face.

Dan shoves her back as he hisses, "Quiet!" The older male is growing frustrated. He has been thwarted from his task for too long, his revenge... his obsession. He was to kill this judge, this fucker who had ruined his life! "Get out of here!" he whispers, his voice harsh. The beggar doesn't do that, her fear clutching at her heart. Something about this male before her, even with him angry, seemed to pull at her. She could see blue eyes in her mind, the raven haired male from her memories, but then there was a flash of green in those eyes. "Get out of here, now!" Before the beggar could leave though the chest behind her rattled, Dan also turning just as the judge entered. Both turned to look at him as his dark brow going up.

"Phantom, where is she?" he inquired, though he didn't look at the older male. His eyes were glued to the extra person, unsure of why the dirty female was even in the shop. The raven haired male shoved the woman out the door that Vlad had just entered. Though she didn't want to leave something told her that this was not the place to be and so she rushed down the stairs. She looked around though, the sound of the woman she had just been speaking about, heard inside the shot, though the lights were off. There was a home in that place. It was strange that she knew that when like the room above her, she didn't think she had been in there before. Turning around she tried to find a way in there, sure that the woman was in there with the law and possibly had killed him.

Lily could feel her legs falling asleep, the tingling a sign that she would lose all feeling in mere minutes paused as she heard the men talking. One was her warden, Vlad Masters, and yet she couldn't tell who he was talking to. He didn't sound upset, well, not really as the other male said something. Moving her ear closer to the side of the chest to hear them better.

"She is with my neighbor," Dan stated. "But she has learned the error of her ways."

"She has?" Vlad inquired, disbelief on his face.

"She only speaks fondly of you, and begs for your forgiveness." Dan moved closer to the other male. "It is good that the brat didn't make off with the girl." Lily felt her heart drop. They were speaking of her, they were talking about Dash and the fact that he had saved her from the asylum. Was this unknown male the person who ran this barber shop? Where those his blades? Then her mind turned to the fact that this man was talking to Vlad with such pleasantness that maybe Dash had been used to bring her here! Maybe he was in on it, but that made no sense as he had saved her! What would be in it fo- Oh, money. She was sure that Vlad would pay to have his ward returned to him, but why was this man lying about her feelings towards her guardian?

"Then she shall have it!" Vlad said. He would like to see his ward, but before he could ask of her again the chest behind Dan rattled again as a sneeze was heard from that same chest. "What do you have in there?" the judge inquired, his brow going up again at the strange things he was seeing in this room every time he entered it. Dan didn't know what was in the trunk, but he was going to have his revenge so with a blast of power he struck the other male down. To his surprised when the dust cleared the judge was there, his blue eyes flashing red at the sudden attack. His attention was no longer on the chest, no, he was staring down the large raven haired male, his hair now a white sheen while his eyes were green. When Dan's power overwhelmed him he was forced to transform. His green eyes locked onto those red eyes in surprise.

"You're a fucking ghost!" he spat, his target a dead man. Could you kill ghosts? Before his eyes the male transformed completely, his hair remaining in the dark horns of his human half as his skin became a light blue tint of death. He didn't care, his eyes flashing as he rushed the older male, his fist striking at Vlad's chin. The sound of teeth cracking, the shattering sound echoing around the space. Growling Vlad got back up, his eyes narrowed as he wiped off the bit of blood seeping from his mouth.

"I'm not a ghost, well, not fully," the male spat, his eyes taking in the blood on the back of his hand. "Thanks to that buffoon." He seemed to relax, no longer hostile in a way as he grinned. "You must be another one of his victims."

"I may appear different, though all that time in prison does that to a man," Dan stated. He knew who this male was referring to, his own father. It had killed the other occupants of the house, but he had survived that day, only becoming half ghost. "Though I doubt you would remember a certain barber with a wife and daughter." Vlad's eyes narrow as he realize that he is looking at the male he had sent away a long time ago. The Warden a rather harsh man, left to "care" for the male whose wife had caused such a lust to rise in the judge. He had yearned to take her to bed, to marry her and become a family with the daughter in tow, but no-

"Daniel Fenton!" he cried out in shock, his anger at the thought that the male he had thought long dead or at least behind bars for the rest of his life, was free and back for his revenge. Powering up he took down the younger male now, his skull slamming into Dan's stomach. For some reason Lily felt the need to peek just as the house shuddered with the force of the two men fighting. When she peeked out she found her eyes growing wide at the sight that greeted her. There, right in front of her were two different people then who she had assumed was out here. She had just been ready to throw down the lid when a blast escaped Vlad's hand and struck the ground where the chest was. With a cry of alarm the floor gave way and Lily found herself falling. Just as her scream filled the air, another joined it.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Paulina glared at the female before her. The beggar sneering back at her, fear and anger reflecting in the faded amethyst of her gaze. "You should have stayed dead." Little did either women noticed a certain red headed boy creeping back into the bake room, the door now unlocked from Dan and Paulina earlier. He listened to them from the foot of the stairs, the sound of Paulina's voice making the young child shudder. "I deserve him." The beggar frowned at her, recalling a moment when she had been at her lowest, the moment she had lost something... something that had been taken from her and a person...

"You watched me drink that poison," she muttered as her memory tried to click on the real story. "No, no you gave me the poison... after he raped me..." she faded as her memory darkened and was gone, but she was still mad, her eyes narrowing on Paulina.

"You were not worthy to be his wife," the Latina spat just as Nathan came to the top of the stairs. He was just stopping at the doorway, his eyes moving to see in the room. Paulina's back was to him, a blade in her fingers as the lamp light glimmered off of it. His eyes widened as the woman he had thought kind lunged at the other female, blade coming out to stab the beggar in the chest, her scream shrill as her blood poured off of her. Some of it splattered on the Latina, said woman uncaring as she pulled the blade out and plunged it back into the other female's chest.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dan stopped in the air as the two cries mingled, Vlad distracted for a moment. Blinking younger halfa opened his mouth and let out a wail, the sound waves traveling out from the source of their power. As they moved away from him they grew louder, more powerful as they tore into Vlad's body. The older male convulsed as the buildings around him shook and fell, Vlad finding his bones breaking, shattering in his body as he became limp. Rushing at his disabled foe, Dan began to slice into the judge's body, his flesh like paper with his bones non-existent. He turned back from the sliced up body of Vlad as it fell to the ground below him, the sounds of it disgusting as it flopped with a big 'splat' each time.

He failed to see the chest on the ground behind him, the small raven haired girl crawling out in a daze, as he made his way to the direction the scream came from. What he came upon was hard to see at first from his vantage point. Paulina was stabbing someone, their raven hair oily and mussed looking. It was when she spoke again. "You're a damned freak! Why should he marry you and not me?!" What was she talking about? He moved into the room, the Latina finally noticing him as she dropped the female form to the ground.

"What have you done?" he questioned. "There is blood all ov-" He looked down, now standing before the Latina, the face of the beggar revealed to his gaze. Her skin is pale, her eyes open to the world with nothing reflecting in them but death as the veil of its predecessor took the soul. Up close and clear minded the halfa could see his wife before him, his green eyes flickering to the woman before him. It was then she seemed to realize that his hair was now white, his eyes green, the fear upon being caught un-nerving her. "You-u knew s-she was alive?" he asked, his eyes narrowing. She shook her head, denying knowing the female.

"She was about to run for the law," the Latina accused. "I caught her snooping and when she saw me she said she was going for th-"

"She poisoned her!" a voice cried out as Nathan moved to stand in the doorway. "She wanted her gone so that she could marry you!" Nathan had changed his mind about his initial feelings for the now white haired male. He hadn't seen the man kill, but now he had seen Paulina kill, her attack one of joy that had scared him. "She said th-" His words were cut short when Paulina made a rush at him, Dan forgotten as he stared down at the dead body of his wife, her skin marred slightly from the life dealt her. Snarling at the woman that his green gaze cut to, he flew at her, his fingers wrapping around her throat as he stared her down.

"You aided that bastard in tarnishing her," he spat. "You aided that bastard in getting his hands on my wife and child!" His bellow shook the walls again, Nathan running off behind him to save himself. Dan should have killed him as he had seen too much, but the halfa found that he was more interested in the woman being slowly killed as her face changed color. "Were you a part of it in the beginning?!" She attempted to shake her head, her voice so tiny as she replied in the negative. Maybe she had hoped that he would release her since she hadn't sent him away, but his grip only tightened as her eyes began to water, the teal orbs swelling up. "You were so delusional to think that I would welcome you into my arms, my life, if she were gone," he spat.

"You are just as bad as that bastard, that fucked up fruit loop," he growled, his fingers tightening to the point that his large fingers had broken the skin of her neck, her blood oozing around his fingers. "You're a fucking ice queen, never caring what is right for anyone but you." Her eyes popped, oozing down her cheeks as blood joined in the mini waterfalls of fluids. Sneering at her in disgust he tossed her to the side, as far from his wife's body as he allowed tears to fall from his eyes. He had been so overcome with his need for revenge, the obsession clouding his vision and now his wife was truly dead. Just as he lay over her body Lily entered and seeing the male over the body of what appeared to be the beggar woman, another female's body just feet from him, the blood leaving her neck staining the dull grey carpet.

She didn't even think about it, sure that the male who had killed her guardian had also killed these two woman, reached out with the blade she had found on the ground next to the broken chest and cut the side of his neck, her aim true as it nicked his major artery. The blood that burst forth startled her, the blade falling from her fingers as she fell back in surprise. The male whispered, "I love you." She blinked as she realized that he was talking to the woman in his arms. She didn't know what made her do it, but she took a step toward the bleeding male, her amethyst/blue gaze taking in the woman in his arms. A flash of memory, of a woman with raven hair like her own, her amethyst gaze so full of love as she smiled down at her. She turned in that memory toward a male, his own blue eyes shimmering with the same love as the woman, his lips touching down on her forehead. I love you.

"Daddy?" she whispered, her chin quivering. "Mommy?" The two dead bodies before her were her parents... She had killed her father! Her father had killed either of the beggar and the other woman or something else had taken the woman who was her mother. She was truly alone. Just then she heard the sound of horse hooves, the sound drawing her to her feet. Rushing from the scene of carnage Lily hurried to cut off Dash before he saw the carnage. "Let's go!" she cried, taking the blond's hand rushing back to the carriage just a few feet from the male. He opened his mouth to ask her what was wrong, but seeing the fear in her eyes he complied. The pair slamming the door just before the carriage took off, neither speaking a word as they headed for their destination...


End file.
